We
have a cat.
Because
we have a cat we have a litter box.
We
also have dogs and if you know anything about dogs, you know they will chew
poop, especially cat poop. For this reason we have to keep the dogs away from
the litter box.
The
litter box is in the bathroom.
There
is only one way into or out of this bathroom. A door we have developed the habit
of leaving all but closed except when in use. None of the dogs can open it from
this tiny crack, but Tiger, the cat, can.
Now
generally speaking Tiger only opens the door far enough to squeeze through
himself, he is a cat. The problems arose when it became quite clear this wider
opening was sufficient for all the dogs to “nose” it further open.
It
was also abundantly clear Tiger wasn’t about to learn how to actually close the
door.
New
solution: Child safety gate in the door frame.
Now
on the surface this seems like a wonderful fix.
The
cat can easily jump the gate whenever he wants while none of our dogs are big
enough to push the gate over on their own, nor can they jump over it.
(Thankfully they haven’t tried their combined weight on it.)
Since
this is a “child safety gate” and all the humans in our house are adults, or
might as well be (less than six months to go for the youngest), it was readily
assumed the gate wouldn’t deter any of us.
After
it was installed I sat in my usual place on my bed, where I have a view of the
bathroom door and watched.
My
husband steps right over.
My
daughter, who is the same height as my husband makes it look as graceful as
dancing somehow.
Both
my sons who are taller than their dad have no issue.
My
other daughter then approached the bathroom.
I
warned her about the presence of the gate stating, “You’ll probably have to
move it out of your way.”
She
looked at it. “It’s okay.” Then, with some care, stepped over it.
I
swear my jaw dropped. I was stunned. She’s the closest to my height and I was
positive I could not step over it.
When
it was my turn to enter the bathroom, I measured myself against the gate.
The
top of it came to about an inch below my belly button.
When
I realized that I had a clear vision of trying to straddle our old dog Jim Boy.
Considering the height, the comparison was easy to make.
So
I’m the only member of the family who can’t just step over it.
Then
we discovered the problem.
I
could not figure out how to move it!
For
at least two weeks I had to have someone else move the thing just so I could
use the bathroom.
Mind
you, I’m in my mid to late fifties and vaginally delivered FIVE children!
Yes,
there were some close calls before I could get into our only bathroom.
Then
I finally figured out how to get it down.
Whew!
But
then there was the issue of putting it back up.
In
my household I have told my family for decades I won’t do any chore “below my waist”.
My reason for this is because way back in the spring of 1971 I broke my back.
Within a couple of years arthritis started to set in. Bending over hurts.
Now
guess what I would have to do to reset the gate.
You
guessed it. Bend over.
Now
if I could simply put the gate in place and re-latch it as quickly as I could
undo it, then there would be no problems.
Yeah,
it’s not simple.
It
took me another half a week to finally figure out how to re-latch it but I
could not get it to latch before my back was yelling at me.
So
though all of this, it seemed the gate was down more than it was up. It seemed
to cut down on the dog incidents but they were still happening.
Anyway,
finally, one day I actually managed to get the lock set within seconds. Now it’s
no problem for me.
But
what I thought about while I was fighting with that gate was how any person who
doesn’t conform to the average has to adapt to a world not set up for them.
If
you’re taller or shorter than average you have to learn to adapt to. If you’re
left handed, you learn other ways to do basic tasks.
Being
a short ambidextrous person, I find myself adapting a lot.
Smile.
Make the day a brighter day.
