Built for comfort, not for speed 

I am a lover of fashion, who,no matter what size I happen to be, am lucky enough to have bought and worn off the rack comfortably. I could hold a pair of pants, a dress or a shirt in front of my body and know if it would fit. I shopped quickly. It used to take me less than 90 minutes to scour the mall for a change of season wardrobe 

I can’t shop malls anymore. The stores don’t have enough room for my wheelchair, let alone the tiny  dressing rooms that I now must use. Shopping for clothes has now become a tedious and exhausting chore. There is only one store in which I can now shop in relative comfort, where the dressing rooms are big enough for me, my husband who is necessary because I cannot dress my upper half without help,  and my wheelchair. That store is Old Navy.

 I’ve gone from designer shops to one step below the Gap,at least the clothes are alot more affordable. . My winter coat is now a puffy vest because of the paralysis in my left arm, I can no longer wear fitted  sleeves

. Thankfully, Old Navy has the best quality yoga pants,since I can’t work a button or a zipper.  

I have several pairs that still look and fit like new after 10 years, all of which cost less than  $15 .The designer sweaters I own, I can’t wear because the neck opening isn’t large enough,,thankfully, Old Navy has great slouchy sweaters with roomy 3/4 sleeves that work well. I was able to find a great poncho style sweater that has become my favourite.because it’s easy to get on and off.

 Kudos to the designers at Old Navy for making cute clothes that are versatile enough for even the hardest to fit customers, the disabled. 

The joy I used to feel while shopping is now mostly gone, with only one store available to me, that now takes me at least 3 hours to find an outfit I like,that fits my challenged body. Even trying on said outfit can take up to an hour I am no longer built for a quick trip to the mall, I’m now built for comfort and making a day of it.  There was nothing I loved shopping for more than clothes, except cars My husband and I are currently looking for a new SUV.  Well, new to us. So now we get to try on cars We currently own a 20 year old GMC Jimmy that causes me pain when I’m in it for more than 45 minutes. In order to visit my husband’s parents, I must be able to tolerate riding in a car for 2 hours. It’s been 2 years since we last visited them, during which time they’ve moved into a new house which hopefully will be accessible to me. Whatever car we  buy must not only be relatively easy to get into and out of,not too high or too low  but must have room enough for my manual wheelchair and have a smooth enough ride as my neck is still problematic when it comes to bumps in the road. The car with the best ride I’ve ever driven was a Mercedes-Benz E320 that I drove from Los Angeles to Montreal without issues , and so, we have our first outing planned for Thursday morning starting  at the local Mercedes-Benz dealership. I fully expect it to take a few weeks of trying on and  test driving every SUV on the market before we find the most comfortable one for me. I can only hope that it’s not wickedly expensive and that hubby likes to drive it as much as I would if I could still drive.  I will keep you posted. as to what we buy.