The lady with a bike at the Canadian Tire store.

Hi Joe;

Today’s adventure for me is not unusual as you know. I don’t go looking for trouble, it finds me. And today was what I expected.

The first order of business for me was to return some tile back to Home Depot and then go look for a replacement for it. It was not suitable of course. Here, is where the misses should be and decide for sure instead of me, I like everything even if it doesn’t match.

So, I can’t find a associate in the store, so for get about it, I am leaving and I need to go to the tire store for something.???, I can’t remember so I will cruise the aisles and maybe it will pop out and find me.

So while I am in this store I spot a lady with a bike and she is pushing it out the doors to the parking lot and a very nice lady at that and the bike, what bike.?? So, what was I looking for again. I bump into some people and I don’t need what I want anyway.

I leave and would you believe it or not I spot the bike lady again right beside my truck. Karma . And she is struggling to get this bike in to the car. It’s a small cross over SUV and it couldn’t hold more than 4 people or 4 children empty .Plus, some other stuff in the very back of the car.

I offer to help. Yes, I offer to help, I should have just went back into the store and let another Boy Scout help her. I can’t do that, I had to help, it’s a compulsion thing. So in the middle is a infant car seat and we have to remove it in order to lay down the folding seats.

Easier said than done. Its better if only one person does this operation instead of two. To say I was bumped and elbowed would describe these actions which followed and never mind the lady’s soft voice purring  in my ear. (instructions) Yes, its close, warm and getting warmer and dangerous, but a scout can handle it.

Diplomatic, Sauvé, is the word that comes to mind in our discussion of how to get the bike in. She has one idea and the “caveman” has another, the boy scout is now off duty. So, we try her idea first and then mine. This bike is getting heavier by the minute and my batteries are in need of charging.

So, I stop to gather my breath back and have a small discussion of the project. Bad move, should have kept on stuffing the bike in the car. Why,??, because I now am looking at a very beautiful women and she is just smiling her face off at the situation we are in. I feel my batteries starting recharge.!!!

Its very hard to concentrate at the job at hand when you have such a able bodied partner helping while all the while I feel like I am in a movie on u tube or A F V. All I can say is, the bike did get stuffed into the car and I am too humbled to describe this any further.  (:)

With the doors closed and she is safely packed into the car, I make another gaff and ask if she will need a hand to “unstuffy” the bike at her place.?? Luckily, she says no and shakes my hand and thanks me for the help and I mumble “no trouble” its all in days work.

I know you are thinking, why don’t you just offer to use your truck and take it back to her house.??. Yep, another mystery in life and I am going to let you think about it, I was having fun here.

I didn’t go back into the store because I was unable to think what I wanted. But, I certainly got what I needed. A helpful gesture, a work out better than the gym, and a gracious thank you. Boy Scouts, what a job.!!

See you all later.




 

I like being old,it sets you free! But,I can do without the aches and pains!!

Do I like being old ?.

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.. I think about this over a good glass of red wine with a bit of sharp cheddar, comfort food.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging, its a right of passage. I think of them and their Families. R.I.P. my brothers.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's, play the air guitar and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love .. I will. And nap when I feel like it, the cat does.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. Must be the Speedo!.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car?

But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.


I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. We call them wrinkles.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. As you get older, it is easier to be positive. Nobody likes grumpiness.

You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I’ve even earned the right to be wrong. And my wife will tell me,that is for sure!.

I want to thank the person that first wrote this letter and allows me the freedom to add to it my own thoughts. Thank you, your spirit will inspire others.No copy right issues, I hope!.

It helps to deal with the reality that I am older and yet not all that wise, but I am working on it. I find comfort in the laughter of children and their care free ways. It restores the feeling of youth. Just to be sure that we learn this lesson,God, has given us 3 Grandchildren to raise and teach them as we have been taught.

So,you know that I am going to live to at least 100 years of age,well that is the plan,so I going to do my darnest to full fill that honor given to us. They say it makes you younger?.It's not easy,but its worth it and I keep telling myself this everyday that I want to become angry with them. My, kids. Amen.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. We have kids depending on us!.


And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it, before dinner if I want).

MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT
FROM THE HEART!