Read My Lips - the blog

When does it stop?

Wow, has this ever been a long day, but before I get into that, let me share a story about our small town. From what I have heard, Seth is the oldest man in town. He told me he would be 96 this December today when I saw him drive by as I was getting out of my car. His wife, who was just a year younger than him has died recently, I had not had a chance to give Seth my condolences, so I stopped him for a moment to tell him I hoped he was doing well, as I understand how hard it is to lose your spouse. First of all, when I say I stopped Seth, I halted his progression as he passed by in his motorized wheel chair. When I first moved to town, someone pointed him out as he was driving around in his little black pickup truck and said always watch out if you see that guy. He cannot see all that well and will just backup into the street right in front of you. Well, Seth has since gotten rid of the pickup truck and just tools around town in the electric wheel chair. Of course, the thing only goes about 2 mph, but if my memory is right, that is about how fast he drove around in that pickup truck also. I suppose if you cannot see all that well, it is important not to drive too fast as you do not want to approach anything you are unable to see, because who knows whether 10 feet ahead there might be a hippo just sitting in the middle of the street or something. The town is small, and even though his destination was over a mile away, I understand he makes the trip at least once a day. He was going to his favorite restaurant for lunch.

Anyway, to make a long story short, when I asked him if he was doing alright with his wife gone, he said he was doing alright. He said I go dancing twice a week, Tuesdays in Stephenville (about 20 miles west of our town) and on Thursdays in Granbury (about 20 miles north of our town). I wondered where he was dancing at, so I asked. He said it was the Senior Citizen Center in each town. He said he usually spent about 90 minutes dancing on those two nights and that there were all kinds of women. He said there were a lot of pretty ones. I could hope that I was like Seth when I was in my 90s, but sadly, I can't dance for 90 minutes at less than half his age. I would say it is likely due to all of those cigarettes I smoked over the years, but then Seth had a pack of unfiltered Pall Malls in his shirt pocket as we talked.

Now back to my day: long ... and for tonight, that is likely enough. I am almost sure ya'll are tiring of me describing how swamped I am at work right now. I complain a bit, but then I also remember how I had absolutely no business when I first moved here in 2000, so I might actually say I have exceeded my expectations. ;)

Posted by notGeorge at October 23, 2003 08:56 PM