Thursday, April 14, 2011

You'd Be Happy If You Were Wearing Roller Blades

They say to write about what you know. As far as I can see I know alot about looking at my feet and grocery shopping. Some time ago I wrote a post  concerning the fact that strangers tend to accost me in public places and start to talk. Sometimes they tell me stories. Life stories. How I try to avoid it but it always happens and in the end what harm does it do to allow someone to be heard? You might even learn something. So as usual I went to the grocery store this morning.

I was looking at cookies and glanced up as someone was approaching and I just got that feeling. So I turned around in the other direction and became engrossed with chips. But. I heard the voice anyway. Still halfway down the aisle. I didn't look up and it was repeated more loudly.

"You'd be happy if you were wearing roller blades!"
I looked up to see a tall thin figure dressed in green t shirt and shorts, tennis shoes and a fedora. Just being friendly? The figure was adjacent to me now and I recognized what I was dealing with. Missing teeth. Sun baked skin. Worn about the edges. The voice just so slightly slurred though the jaunty walk was still stable. Someone must have given him a couple bucks and he missed the beer aisle by one. It's best to keep it short but not be rude. Besides my first thought was, "He's right. I probably would be happy if I was wearing roller blades."  So, I said so, and turned back to the chips hoping he would move along, but no, he was in full swing.

"You know, if you never grow up you never get old."
I looked up again at the head to toe green and narrow fedora. Peter Pan?

I gave a quick smile but in that instant I recognized all. There is some truth in this statement as well. Being young at heart can lighten your life. Sometimes I get tired of being a grown up and lately I have been very tired of being a grownup. But I do what I have to do. This person was right about keeping sight of the lighthearted. He was also a lesson in what can happen to life when you run away from reality. He grinned with the brown stumps of a few teeth still left to him.

 "Really, he said, I'm forty five and look", He tipped his hat and lowered his head to show a balding top like I would be shocked to find that he wasn't really twelve.
 He said, "It's mostly doorways. And ceiling fans. Not so much the ceiling fans but the doorways"....he was losing track of his train of thought.

This poor man was exactly my age. He wasn't showing any signs of moving on having captured an audience, so I said, "ok, well you have a good day," and turned away to walk in the opposite direction. I thought I heard a mumbled, "run away, everyone always running away from me." Sad. It was sad.

But as I moved through the store away from Never Never Land and back to the Real World I took stock. Yeah, things are hard. Sometimes it makes me weary that everyone is running 'toward me.' For support. For answers. For accountability. For clean laundry....

Thank God. Otherwise what might my life be? It's all in how you view it, isn't it?
I felt pretty happy pushing that cart around the store. It felt light as a feather and seemed to glide with no effort along the floor. Because in my heart...

 I was wearing roller blades.


© 2011 All Rights Reserved

16 comments:

  1. I have the same problem with people spilling their guts, really, I don't want to hear about your last vacation or your ex wife. Really.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yet, after listening to him, YOU felt better. Whose to say God didn't put him there for that very reason {{{Hugs}}}

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have the same kind of face. I've gotten better at hanging up on people trying to sell me stuff, though - although the times when I do get stuck it's always with people that are telling me stories. Also, if I was wearing roller blades I would likely be bruised, scratched and humiliated, rather than happy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mrs. Tuna: Right! That stuff is only for blogs ; )

    GB's Mom: I think you are exactly right!

    Bibliomama: It happens everywhere. Roller skates would be ideal for me, ice skates-I'd be pulp, roller blades may be a good medium.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love a tablespoon of crazy with a putting it all in perspective chaser.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh! I haven't skated in so long! I went last year, brought a new pair of skates & haven't been back! Shame on me. I think these people you me outside are the people in your dreams lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. Okay, first off welcome to the "Sign Wearers of America" (SWOA? LOL!) This always happens to my husband and me-more so to him though, thank goodness.

    Second, I just love this post! It kind of makes you think about things just a little differently, so I thank you as I look over at my son and he still isn't ready for bed...

    ReplyDelete
  8. oh, i do SO get tired of being an adult sometimes. if i had only known sooner that rollerblades would fix things, i would have never got this dang tattoo. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. mombshell: Me Too !

    Nicole: Well, maybe but he wasn't leading a dinosaur on a leash....; )

    Susan: It's a sign...I use my telekinetic powers to determine that 'he did not want to go to bed'.

    Elissa: *SNORT*!!!!! ; )Best of the week!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yeah, I'd be happy with the rollerblades (Spellcheck is suggesting "razorblades." Maybe I'm missing something.

    ReplyDelete
  11. feefioto: Wait! is roller-blades one word? Maybe 'I'm' missing something. I don't know , razorblading sounds kind of painful....you really can't trust spellcheck can you? ; )Thanks for coming by!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am always so shocked by how the "out there's" can tell when they're being shunned.

    It seems like they're in their own world, but parts of them still can read ours.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Empress: He was like a Happy Go Lucky Poster Boy. I really felt bad when he said that because he truly cheered me up. I just couldn't talk all day : )

    ReplyDelete
  14. MOTPG- come over to my site for an award :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love random encounters now. I think, when I age, I'm going to be the person chatting up strangers in the cookie aisle. Look out.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Susan: Thank you dear : )

    ironicmom: I will be waiting to hear about your grandchildren and your trip to Florida ; )

    ReplyDelete

Just Humor Me....

Search This Blog