From Tub to Rickshaw

Due to your touching generosity, we are 70% of the way towards our goal of $3000 for a walk-in tub. At this point in the Calm the Mind campaign, I’ve discovered I sometimes am not the sharpest tool in the shed. There have been difficulties encountered which prompts me to change strategies and objectives.

Near the beginning of the campaign my daughter Charissa pointed out the first difficulty I would be encountering. Acquiring a song from iTunes is much easier than from CD Baby. I originally signed up for wider digital distribution, but I restricted sales to CD Baby for the purpose of keeping track of fundraising. When I went to open up digital distribution again, just a few days after the restriction, I was informed I would have to pay again for the distribution. Well, that’s not going to happen, at least not through CD Baby.

Fortunately for the campaign, people have been generous through using the Donate button on the sidebar. A few people even mailed us checks (the branch of Cindy’s family known as the Caseys have been particularly generous in this manner), which avoids the PayPal fee off the top. While some of these donations may be because the donors don’t want no stinkin’ song, some may have been because they wanted to contribute more than 99 cents.

I was serious about our song “Humility, Faith, Courage” as a strategy for calming the mind. I also want to express my thanks in a tangible way for the kindness of our donors. When the campaign is over I will email an mp3 file of HFC to our online donors along with a note of thanks. For those who have mailed us checks I will send a similar expression of our thanks.

Now, as for the other difficulty encountered, let me first confess that I am the black sheep in a family of builders. How was I to know you could not get a walk-in tub through our bathroom door without major, expensive renovations? That has forced me to change my objectives for how to make the best use of your generosity to enhance Cindy’s life. Here is what I’ve decided.

First, I will acquire a rotating stool that is meant for a bathtub. A few months ago we were given something similar, a transfer seat, but that was much too large for our situation and turned us in the direction of the walk-in tub. Yet there appears to be stools that will fit inside the tub, perhaps I should have discovered that in the first place, which would satisfactorily facilitate Cindy’s entrance and exit.

That leaves us abundant funds from the campaign to apply in other ways. Every day seems to be more difficult than the last for getting Cindy down the stairs (upstairs is much easier). An electrical system for getting Cindy downstairs would prove too expensive for our budget. I’ve been brainstorming for a manual solution, perhaps something along the lines of a racing stroller with large wheels. I anticipate whatever solution still will leave us sizable funds from our generous donors, hence …..

A pedicab! In other words, a rickshaw pulled by a bicycle. Even walking to the village green and back is a little difficult for Cindy. I will keep that type of therapy up for her as long as possible but, meanwhile, why not expand our wanderings around town with a pedicab. Getting Cindy out around town more will enhance her quality of life even more than the other objectives. I think she will love it! Plus, the pedicab enables me to get significant exercise once again on my outings with Cindy.

For this suite of strategies we will need to make approximately the same target of $3000. This is a terrific solution that makes me wonder why I never thought of this earlier. Perhaps because I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed?

If you see me pedaling Cindy around Norfolk in the near future make sure you wave or beep.