Another great "Humans of New York" post

I've mentioned Humans of New York before but there are so many good posts there, I could almost just repeat every one here. But what's the use of that? You can just go and see them for yourself. But every once in a while, there is one so good that I want to point it out.

This one is from a few months ago but it has stuck with me. The man in the story is down on his luck but what he says shows that wisdom is often hidden in despair and trouble. This picture and interview were taken in a park in New York. That's all I know about it.

"When it starts to get crowded, I’ll leave.  Because I can’t stand the looks.  You know how many people were gonna sit on that bench over there, but decided against it, because of what’s sitting right here?  I drank myself into homelessness.  So I’m not looking for violins or tissues.  But I used to be in the mainstream.  I was somebody once, and people used to look at me without any barriers or animosity.  I can tell you this: when John Lennon sings Imagine, it’s complete bullshit.  He was living in the Dakota when he wrote that, overlooking Central Park.  Imagine no possessions?  He should have written a song about all the wonderful things that he had.  Imagine nothing to live or die for?  No Yoko?  No career?  No child?  No fame?  No status?  Well here I am.  There’s no peace here."

Here's the link to the original post.

Directions

Yesterday, we went to visit my mother-in-law in the hospital. Before I go on - she's OK and we brought her home with us. She is 83 and has some problems but yesterday ended up OK.

But the hospital she was in is old and has been renovate many times over the years. Building after building was tacked on or multiple buildings connected together. The main parking lot is on one side but most of the nice, new patient rooms are on the other side. So, when you go to the main lobby from the parking lot looking for the patient, they hand you a card with directions. Here is what it says:

Go thru door at rear of lobby. Turn right, then turn left. At end of hall, turn right. Go thru door at end of hall & turn left. Take next right down the art corridor to the inpatient building. Elevator on right.

Good grief! Notice they left out most of "the", shortened "through" and replaced "and" with ampersand. Otherwise they would have needed two pages.

By the time we got to the art corridor, we were too tired (or afraid to get distracted) to look at the art. We did get to see my mother-in-law but had to wait about two hours until the discharge papers could be written up and signed. We all had a nice nap when we got home - after a 45 minute drive home from the hospital.

Broccoli

Ahh - good broccoli

This is going to be a short rant. I like broccoli. I didn't used to like it when I was young but back then, I liked very little that was green - except pickles and olives. But now I like broccoli. I might even say I love broccoli. Except...

I don't like broccoli when the stems (or is it the stalks?) are included. When we buy fresh, whole broccoli from the store and use it in meals and cut it up ourselves, we don't use the stems (stalks). When you buy prepared packages of sliced broccoli or you get it as a side dish in a restaurant, you invariably (it seems to me) get the stems (stalks) included in the mix. This is when I don't like broccoli. As a matter of fact, I hate broccoli like that. What would you think if you ordered sliced apples and half of it was sliced branches?

Yuck - stems, too!

I know some people have ways of preparing the stems (stalks) by slicing it and cooking it for a longer time. I'm sure you can add enough spices to make them taste better. But they should not be cooked the same as the florets. The stems (stalks) need longer cooking so if you include them with the florets, either the florets are overcooked or the stems (stalks) are under cooked.

It seems to me that when you get packaged broccoli, it should have to say on the label if the stems (stalks) are included. That just my opinion but you know I'm right!

I saw it long before it happened

Not the squirrel from my story

 Earlier this summer, at least a month ago, I was riding my scooter into work as usual. I happened to notice the long tree branches arching over this section of the highway and imagined what would happen if squirrels were running along those branches and fell off. Now, squirrels are very sure-footed but things like high winds or other squirrels attacking or chasing them could cause them to lose their footing. So, I had this vision of a squirrel falling off a branch and landing in my lap. What a scene it was as the squirrel panicked and tried to scramble away from me. I imagined that I would try to stop so it could jump off and get safely away.

The more I thought about it, the funnier it seemed. If I'd been in an area where other people were standing by the side of the road, they would have thought it pretty strange that the guy on the scooter was laughing so hard. "What is he laughing at?" they'd probably think. "Should we call someone?"

A few days ago, I was on my scooter riding on another road where long tree branches extend over the road. I first saw a bunch of leaves fall to the road. As I looked up to see if more debris was going to fall, more fell on the road ahead of me. But it wasn't more leaves. It was a squirrel. He had fallen on the road about 15 feet ahead of me and it looked a little stunned. After a second of confusion or catching it's breath, it got its bearings and ran off the road with a lot of scrambling sounds on the pavement.

I don't know what caused this squirrel to fall but there was no wind. So, I'm assuming that another squirrel had been chasing this one. Or may it was evading a hawk. I'll never know but it made me laugh again. Once again I was lucky that no one was around to consider me crazy. Isn't it strange that I would imagine a similar episode a month earlier?

Something I realized later was that my reflexes are a lot better in my daydreams than they are in reality. In this case, I never even slowed down or swerved. Fortunately, the squirrel was not close enough that I would have hurt it. It's another lesson to be looking ahead for problems all the time.

Did I help or make it worse?

I was reading another blog today where the writer was wondering about where we get our ideas about what are good pills and supplements to take for our health. It made me think about my mother and I wrote this comment:

My mother lived alone until she broke her hip when she was 89. So, she came to live near us where we took care of organizing her pills (and other things). All her life, Mom complained that after she read the pills' side effects inserts, she found she was having those problems and would insist the doctor change the prescription. Then she'd read the new inserts and see those symptoms. So, after she moved here and we took over that part of her care, we didn't let her read the side effects inserts. Sadly, Mom died at 91 - about a year and a half after moving here and our taking over her care. Maybe having imagined illnesses was better than getting the real thing.

If you've been involved in the care of a loved one who died, you cannot help but feel guilty. "If I'd just been more understanding," or, "Why did I insist on that course of care?" are things I continue to worry about to this day. I think everyone goes through it but it still hurts. I still miss Mom terribly and wish I could have known what to do differently. But God has his own plan for our life and nothing we can do will add a second to it. I keep telling myself.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,

but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 New International Version

What did I do wrong?

As I was riding my scooter home from work the other night, I stopped behind a car at a busy intersection. I didn't have to worry about the traffic yet because the car in front of me would have to pull onto the road first. As we waited, the guy (who was alone in his car) gave me the finger! Now, if it had been a fleeting gesture, I might have thought I had imagined it. But no - he gave it to me long and clear. What had I done to antagonize this guy?

Was I too close? Had I steered my scooter back forth and shined my headlight in a threatening manner? I couldn't imagine what I had done. He was pretty far ahead of me and I know I had not cut in front of him unless it had happened earlier in the trip. Was he at the last intersection with the red light? Had I crowded him there? Did I remind him of someone he had an argument with or did we have an argument in the past? I didn't recognize his car. I couldn't see him clearly in the rear view mirror but from what I could see, I didn't recognize him.

Should I ride up beside him and ask him what the problem was? Should I be mad or apologetic? Should I say anything at all? He might have a gun or know powerful people or open his door fast and hit me with it.

All of this flashed through my mind in a few seconds and then I noticed something (as he continued to give me the finger) - his sun roof was moving. He was just adjusting his sunroof with the control on on the roof and he was using his finger to push the buttons. Of course!

So, to answer the question in the subject of this post - What I had done wrong was to jump to conclusions. And this was a good reminder to me to think before I act. I may have made him laugh if I had confronted him. Or I could have started something terrible.



The picture here is not from that day but it might help you imagine what I saw and what I thought I saw. Think about what this would look like from behind and not being able to see it clearly from about 15 feet away.

A goofy thought

I need to be writing more here but maybe not more of what I'm about to write.

As I was sitting in the bathroom just now, I realized that my underwear was on inside out. But then I though, "Maybe that's the way it should be." With men's underwear, the outside is smoother with the seams on the inside. Who cares if your underwear looks nice on the outside? The only people seeing your underwear are your mother and your spouse! What underwear needs to be is comfortable. And putting the seams on the outside does that.

I can't believe we advanced as a civilization without realizing this before.