One of the advantages of living in a five-story house is that you don\u2019t need a Fitbit to make sure you\u2019re getting in your 10,000 steps a day. We\u2019ve stayed pretty spry just taking out the trash, hauling in the groceries, and running up and downstairs retrieving little odds and ends we constantly forget like books, dirty dishes, and car keys.<\/p>\n

The stairs are not so great for my father-in-law, though, who has reached the age where walking down the corridor to the dining hall at his assisted living facility is a big challenge. He\u2019d hauled himself up 19 stairs from our garage to our dining room for Thanksgiving, but the prospect of a repeat performance for Christmas looked dubious. And at age 95, who knew how many Christmases he\u00a0had left? Since this was the first time in five years both our daughters would be home for the holidays, it felt even more important to celebrate together in traditional style\u2014tree, stockings, lights, decorations, and Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo problem,\u201d I said to my husband. \u201cSurely the four of us can carry him up the stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

We decided to practice by hoisting Emma, our eldest, in the safety of our living room. Staggering, we dropped her onto the rug in about ten seconds, envisioning the domino effect of three generations meeting with disaster on the stairs into the garage. It was time for Plan B.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing is that we\u2019re all together,\u201d my mother-in-law and I said to one another, agreeing we\u2019d eat instead at their favorite Chinese restaurant.<\/p>\n

Which turned out to be closed on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

My husband made a reservation at\u00a0a Thai restaurant instead.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, my friend Eileen told me about a friend who\u2019d had been carried into his house by firefighters after he was discharged from the hospital with a severely fractured leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should call the fire department,\u201d Eileen urged.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re kidding! They do that?\u201d I replied, silently thinking, \u201cWhat a waste of taxpayer money!\u201d<\/p>\n

And even if I didn\u2019t think so, my in-laws surely would. I could not imagine them agreeing to such special treatment. We like to joke that they hate to impose on people so much that we won\u2019t know that they\u2019re dead until two weeks after the fact.<\/p>\n

Still, I couldn\u2019t let go of the idea, debating it back and forth in my mind, even putting \u201cCall the fire department\u201d on my to-do list. Like most things on my to-do list, there it stayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnlisting the firemen is a crazy idea, right?\u201d I mused to my daughter. \u201cWe\u2019ll be fine at the Thai restaurant, right? The important thing is for all of us to be together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma nodded.<\/p>\n

The following day, my morning walk took me on a route I don\u2019t usually take\u2014one that ends a half a block from our fire station.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell\u2014no harm in asking,\u201d I said to myself, going in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a crazy question,\u201d I said to the man at the desk, then explained our situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not crazy at all. We\u2019re a full-service fire station, and that\u2019s what your money supports. We do this all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

My in-laws were surprisingly game.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people might be too embarrassed to be carted up the stairs,\u201d my father-in-law chortled over the phone. \u201cBut not me! I think it\u2019s marvelous!\u201d<\/p>\n

On Christmas Day, four firefighters met us at the base of our stairs, strapped my father-in-law into a special chair, and deposited him safely in the living room. They arrived precisely at the appointed departure time, and reversed the procedure.<\/p>\n

It was the best Christmas ever. Thanks, taxpayers!<\/p>\n

And yesterday, to celebrate my father-in-law\u2019s 96^{th<\/sup> birthday, we all went to his favorite Chinese restaurant, this time without any assistance beyond his portable walker. It was the best birthday celebration ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"}

One of the advantages of living in a five-story house is that you don\u2019t need a Fitbit to make sure you\u2019re getting in your 10,000 steps a day. We\u2019ve stayed pretty spry just taking out the trash, hauling in the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Upstairs, Downstairs","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[121,321,485],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2F8Ch-mv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1395"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1406,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1395\/revisions\/1406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shrinkrapped.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}