Up the Down Staircase

And now for the next phase in the continuing saga of getting from Point A to Point B. About a year ago I put the fear of Goddess into Laurie when I mentioned that I didn’t think I’d be able to continue using the stairs in our home for another 12 years (when she’s due to retire). I thought another 12 months would be stretching it. It’s a full stairway, 13 steps, with landing, from the main floor of the house down to our bedroom and (fully accessible) bathroom.

As Laurie does when there are obstacles to overcome, she obsessively thoroughly explored our options:

1. Since she needs to stay in this house to continue doing her work, moving to an accessible home would be next to impossible for 12 more years.
2. We could rent an apartment for me where she’d come and stay on weekends (didn't we already do that? Before we lived together?)
3. We could rearrange the house so that our bedroom is on the main floor – which completely defeats the purpose of the major remodel we did six years ago, creating new living space for us separate from the rest of the house.
4. We could spend a lot of money and get a stair lift installed.

It seemed as though #4 was the only viable option.

Of course, I can’t think of a stair lift without envisioning that scene from Gremlins:



Barring any naughty gremlins sneaking in to adjust the lift, this should solve the stair problem and make it possible for us to stay here until we’re ready for that retirement condo.

Tomorrow morning the lift will be installed. You can count on thorough documentation, with photos and maybe a video or two.

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