Someone's Mom should be proud.

Dave had surgery on his ankle again in December. The surgeon took out hardware that had bent and put in a different configuration with a plate in the front and a couple of larger screws. He also put bone graft and special paste in the fused area to help it fuse better. The incisions look great, his foot is in good alignment and the fusion appears to be filling in with bone so a summer without the AFO splint looks entirely possible this year. We are still using a wheelchair whenever we go out. Dave uses a walker in the house but it is still hard for him to do that all the time, and for distances, the wheelchair is just better and safer. Central Utah Center for Independent Living loaned us a small ramp to put on the back steps so I can get Dave in and out of the house in the wheelchair.
We decided to go out to WalMart yesterday. I am gone so much during the week that I just did not want to go out without Dave yesterday so he went with me. They had those electric carts all charged up so he could be independent in the store. When we finished I was pretty tired. I was loading groceries in the back seat because we had the wheelchair in the trunk in case there were no carts charged. Two young men walked up and offered to help me load up "because I looked like I might need some help". The older boy might have been 16, might. The younger one 11 or 12 maybe. They helped me load the groceries into the car and took the cart for me.
I hear a lot about young people who always have their heads in video games or don't respect adults but here they were, two young men ready to once again prove that just isn't so. At least not for all young people. I know kids who have difficult home lives. Kids who never see an example of respect or consideration in their homes. Even those kids seem ready and willing to learn from adults who do teach by example. It just gives me tremendous hope for the future to see kids with such kindness that shows itself spontaneously in a WalMart parking lot.
I asked them if they would like to drive the electric cart back into the store. The younger boy drove off on Dave's cart sitting tall and smiling all the way into the store.