Just About People

49°f/9.4°C, mostly cloudy. Won't get very warm today, again.

Being on the road so much last week meant running into interesting people. 

Like the man at the VA. He was tall and thin, sitting there quietly, but had rings on every single finger. Some you might call women's rings, though they looked manly enough on his hands. I asked if he minded if I looked at them, and he held them up for me to see. 

"Tiger eye?", I asked, and he responded, with difficulty, "Cat eye." He tried to say more, but struggled, and his daughter beside him said, "He had a stroke last year,  and it messed up his ability to speak." 

Still, we had a good conversation.  I commented how frustrating it must be to know what you want to say but be unable to say it, and he nodded emphatically and grinned. I watched as he and his daughter (with whom he lives), through gestures and his halting, broken words, communicated. It was like watching charades, as she would ask, "Is this what you mean?" He would nod or shake his head, and in this way they worked out what he wanted to say. Her patience was a lesson in loving, and it was clear to see he adored her. 

Then at a store there was the strikingly beautiful woman in her early 60's whose head was completely shaved. I asked, "Is your hairstyle a choice? Because you look amazing!"

"Well," she said, "it is and it isn't.  I am going to have to have radiation and they said I will lose my hair, so I decided to just shave it off."

"It suits you," I said. And she replied, "I think I might just keep it this way. I like it!"

At the Farmer's Market, a lady was running the register at the place where I bought the Mothman chips. A lady came over and asked, "How are you doing, Ruth?"

"I'm a little tired," Ruth said. 

A man came over and said, "She's very tired. She's going home as soon as she finishes serving this lady, right, Mom?" 

I asked Ruth, "Do you enjoy working here?"

"Yes," she replied, "it's something to do. I do get tired,  but I like getting out. "

"If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?"

"I'm 80 my next birthday!" 

80, and still working at the market a few days a week. Go, Ruth!

Also at the market: three young black men smelling and identifying (correctly) the herb plants, and  another young man pushing a stroller holding identical twin girls. He couldn't go more than a few steps without being stopped by women who wanted to tell him how adorable the babies were. 

I told him he should rent them out to single guys as they were such excellent girl magnets!

At the Goodwill, I carried a 5-foot long set of longhorns to the counter. "Whoa", said the young male clerk. "Yeah," I said, "I was feeling a little horny." He laughed til tears ran down his cheeks. "I was not expecting that!" 

I think he meant hearing it from someone as old as I am. If he knew me, he would have known better.

And last, at dinner last night, a friend of Derek's who served in the National Guard in Iraq joined us at our table. Brian was there for a graduation party group, but their table was pretty much full, and he was happy to sit with us. I was so entertained as he, Derek, and Larry shared military stories. Some funny, some surprising, others, well...the kind you don't tell your mother until years after the fact. One story really struck me. When they were deployed to Iraq for the third time, they had to go to a training for those coming in-country. The trainer was a young second lieutenant who was in Iraq for the first time. 

As the guy started the training, Brian raised his hand and said, "Sir, many of us were in regular service before joining the Guard, and some have been here in Iraq before too." The second lieutenant paused, and said, "Right. So how many of you were in regular Army before?" Hands went up. "How about Marines?" More hands. He went through all branches of the service, and in the end there were only a handful without prior experience. "Well, I guess the rest of you can go," he said.

There were so many stories from Iraq, Korea, Germany, and of course Larry's tales from Vietnam. So many experiences, yet here they were, safely home, eating dinner together. I doubt they saw it as I did, these three men. It was just their lives, but to me it was a testament to resiliency, strength, and a whole lot of luck.

All for today. Happy Mothers Day to those of you celebrating.  Hold those children tight!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.