Better now. Onea my favorite lines, from the movie “On Golden Pond.”… “Better now.”
Norman had had another heart flare up.. He was “level”, as in on the ground hurting.. Ethel, oh Ethel read his every move - fearing it would be the last she’d ever see/hear from him… “Ethel?” he weakly called out?… “OH YE-EE-SS NORMAN? Ethel replied in her best Hepburn shakified rhetoric.. “Ethel?”… “YE-EE-SS NORMAN? WHAT IS IT?”… “Better now.” (I’m weird, this movie, Parenthood, and probably “Where’s Poppa?” in my all-time three favorite…)
Ok, so I told a “white lie”. Or yellow, if you’re here on checkenginelight.blogspot.com.. Or blue, if you’re here on My Space. Victor, that was presumptuous, what makes you think anyone comes by either place? Ok, sorry. I'll RE-DO that line later.
I hadn’t read the paper in it’s entirety. I’d read the sports, the front section, the local section, the FYI section - and then the business section. The business section was so GD depressing it spoke to “retirement planning” and what ya needed to do. Dammit Jim. Not only do I wish I was 25 again, so does my 401K, my savings account, and my checking account. Oops. Yellow/Blue. Forgot I ain’t got no savings account. Sorry. I lied.
“MUST FIND DO-ERS.” (Remember? To beat this boredom shit?)
Drove to park. Backed under tree… Hmmmm, nice out. (To which my next door neighbor usedta reply, “yeah, I think I’ll leave it out.” hehe, I loved him).. HEY!… DO-ERS! I SEE DO-ERS!
Seven swings a swingin with DO-ER moms and DO-ER dads behind them propelling. A dad and a son pulled up.. Too early for a game of catch? Never. Ball DO-ERS.
Finished the paper (I really did this time) - threw the remainder in the trash - out and about across town. Drove by the Old High School where I was kinda a DO-ER. (Dad always said I was easily led, which I took to be not sucha very good thing, but hey - I was doing!)..
Lo and behold outdoor basketball DO-ERS. Soccer field DO-ERS. Touch football DO-ERS. There wasn’t an inch left on the field for any further DO-ERS.
To the Old Towne square… That’s the 12th DO-ER I’ve passed walking their DO-DO-ER. (And we think we’re bored at winter time - imagine our canine friends - they don’t even get to see the Piggly Wiggly - or anything else outside ALL WINTER!)..
DO-ERS working on their yard. One with a for sale sign - re-DO-ing landscape work. A RE-DO-DO-ER. Hoods up, DO-ERS turning wrenches. Kids walking their bikes, tired DO-ERS. People strolling, without being on a leash.
My old home place. These DO-ERS have RE-DONE a bunch. Peeked into the open garage where my father and I’d once become DO-ERS and hung this hideous green $2.50 per sheet plywood. Still there. New DO-ERS need to RE-DO that crap - but it was a nice yesterday memory.
Drove down the alley… Remember alleys? What fun as a kid - u could do anything in the alleys, including riding your bike at breakneck speed ‘cause u’d know when a car was coming… and it rarely happened.
Mall walking DO-ERS. Shopping DO-ERS. Others, like me, outandabout in their cars - Spin DO-ERS. Busy. Busy is good. “Seeing assholes and elbows makes me happy” my old Park Department boss usedta chime. DO. DO-ERS.
71 degrees out. People DO-ING.
I’ve reached the conclusion - boredom, depression, lackofarelationship, apathy, perhaps even to some degree alcoholism and drug usage - they ain’t really concrete. They’re situational. Weather controls somea that. Situational. Sometimes impossible to be a DO-ER, leastwise in the things you like to do. “The way you do those things to me” --- sorry, that song went thru my brain. I’d backspace, but don’t wanna RE-DO.
As I putt-putted toward my now home - I thought how silly it was to complain of boredom. I am human, hear me roar. I thought about a buddy o-mines friend who just lost his leg at work. I’d read about six firefighters hurt when a porch collapsed. I tried to put myself in the shoes of the mom and dad telling their son/daughter “goodbye” as they flew off to Kuwait.
Life’s really kinda easy I guess - even in shitty weather. Don’t haveta look far to find one in a worse hole than yourself. Needta RE-DO my way of thinking I guess.
God Bless DO-ERS. God Bless our troops. God Bless those with handicaps. God Bless those who protect and serve locally.
“Ethel?”… “Ohhhhh-ohhhhh YES NORMAN?”…….. “Better now.” Love, Victurd.
1 comment:
I just jaunted with you! Did you see your niece on the Olde Towne Square? She was one of the bike riders, she and her goofy teen pals. Next time you roll down the alley, stop in for coffee or a beer. We love you muchos.
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