Get a Grip

Opening a door used to be so simple but now I lack the strength to squeeze the door knob and twist it open. Weakened hands can be so frustrating. My hands began to weaken when I was just a child, aged 10 or so; it ceetainly made things awkward for me at school. It's an odd association but for some reason when I think back to that time I recall a popular television show, "The Price is Right". I can hear the television host, Bob Barker announcing contestants and shouting.
 
“Come on down!
…and now for your prize!
Select a door to see the grand prize we have waiting for you!
Is it door number one …or door number two?”
 
This was how it was on the American television game show. Bob’s winners selected prizes at random by choosing a door number not knowing what might be behind it. As a youngster I found it great fun to follow along with the contestants and choose a door at my end of the television screen. It was as if I was playing too. I liked it when we choose the same door. Yippee! Too bad my television partners were not aware of our partnership.

One thing I really enjoyed was that "we" ended up with really good prizes, most doors were good doors. Revealing prizes was a magical whirlwind of activity; stage lights flashed, large doors flew up and out of sight, while our spellbound winners stagger into small makeshift rooms and relished in the delight of their sparkling new bedroom suite, or jumped on a spinning platform with a new Cadillac car. It was lucky I thought that "we" didn’t have to open the doors. The excitment would make turning knobs and working keys impossible.

All these years later I find it even more frustrating to grip door knobs. So much so that when purchasing our new home, I spotted a rounded knob on the door to the pattio and made a mental note to have it replced.     

Our home supply store sells lovely winged door knobs at a high price. I suppose I could replace all the round knobs in the new home but I would rather put my money on more important items, like ...a holiday. With that in mind I decided to replace only a few door knobs and blend them with a portable solution. For interior doors I use something called "The gripper". It fits over top existing knobs and is affordable.

By the way, for that holiday I can pack one to bring along too. It makes doors in the hotel room door easier to grasp and imagine the germs I avoid. Health wise, this in itself is worth it.