It was a neighbor of mine who yelled, “Happy New Year!” out his car window. I’m always glad when I see this elderly African-American gentleman because I’m not sure how good his health is or how long he’ll be on this earth or in my neighborhood. But he’s always friendly and upbeat and when his arthritis isn’t too terrible and the weather is decent, I run into him *walking*! I don’t know him well. I don’t even know his name. But I’ve been encountering him for many years now and he always reminds me of my dad.

The sidewalks aren’t really that bad today. Ice still coats all of the vegetation here but, in most places, the sidewalks are dry. There’s some non-slippery snow and occasionally there’s one of those slick spots that makes you fall flat on your back if you aren’t paying attention. I did that once. It wasn’t fun… 🙁

It’s coming up on January 31. That’s the day that I got *the* call. One of those calls that you always know will come someday. Grandroobly, my own personal dad, had fallen. On ice. We think. Y’all know more or less what happened next. I asked my friend if he’d been walking lately and I advised him not to until the ice was gone. I told him my dad had fallen last year. I didn’t tell him how hellacious my dad’s last seven weeks were. Why pour some rain on a cheerful person’s day? I know my friend doesn’t walk unless the conditions are right and he’s feeling up to it. But he does walk. Whenever he can. I love him.

Thankfully, I encountered him *after* I ran into the windup woman. She’s usually not out but when she is, she starts talking and will *not* stop. Today she was kvetching about something some drunk had put on her sidewalk in the middle of the night. No, it was not vomit, I think it was salt. Anyway, she got all freaked out and called the police, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam. I somehow managed to get away from her in pretty short order, maybe it was because there were a bunch of tree removal trucks across the street, I dunno. Those trucks are all over the city right now picking up ice storm debris and I didn’t tell the wind-up woman that I routinely carry a little baggy of stealth salt in my pocket in the winter. That way I can keep clueless homeowners from getting sued when people break their necks on the icy sidewalks that owners are supposed to clear. I know the wind-up woman is probably just lonely but I just cannot deal with one-track minds and one-sided conversations! I have a *lot* on my mind and most of it is multi-dimensional! grok grok grok

Happy New Year! And do *not* try to walk if it’s icy and your bones are getting rickety! Love, Kayak Woman! and Froggy too

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.