A while ago I was at this tight little coffee shop in Dallas.  

I was there with some friends because it was rumored that on Tuesday nights the coffee shop would open up the area upstairs for anyone that wanted to watch a movie.  A small group of indie-college aged kids found this appealing and made a thing of it.  

On the particular Tuesday evening when I went, I met two brothers that had been coming for a little while.  I forget the taller one’s name, I think it was Jason, or John, or something with a ‘J’.  Anyways, his brother’s name is Stuart [and this is who the post is mostly about].  Stuart is special.  And not in the sense that every mother thinks that her son/daughter is special and unique, I mean [in the most politically correct way possible] he was disabled, he had special needs.  Namely, he was in a wheelchair.

As I already have mentioned, the “viewing party” as I’ve come to call it met upstairs.  This presented a problem for Stuart because he couldn’t walk.  

I was sipping on my green tea when I met these two, formal introductions were made, then as quick as that Stuart’s brother asked if I’d mind helping him carry Stuart up the stairs.  I was excited to help, so Stuart rolled over to the base of the stairwell and his brother got in front, and I behind/below and we carried Stuart up the stairs.

What I failed to realize was two things:  1) Stuart is about 6′ tall and weighed at least 200lbs [plus his wheelchair]  also, I hadn’t been exercising [still am not] so this seemed even heavier for me.  The second things 2) “What goes up, must come down” I worked really hard [even broke a sweat] to get Stuart up that flight of stairs, but then I forgot that I would need to help him down too.  Luckily, he didn’t want to go down until it was done and I had had a good break.

I don’t regret helping him.  And I’d do it again if the situation warranted it. Plus, if you were in a wheelchair I’d help you too.  I’m not writing this to complain, I just thought it was funny because it doesn’t happen that often.

Andrew Nemeth