It’s The Chubby Thing

We can all blame my daughter Tiffany for the fact that I didn’t get much writing done yesterday. Well, not much narrating done, to be exact. Terry had an appointment at Kutryb Eye Institute in Titusville to get the plugs replaced in her eyes, which she has to have done every few months, and I took my Sony digital recorder with me, planning to sit in the van and record a chapter or two while she was inside. The last time we were there, only patients were allowed inside. They’ve relaxed that rule now, but I still thought it better to do it out in the van so people didn’t hear me talking to myself and think I was a crazy man. I prefer people to come to that conclusion after knowing me a little bit longer. And trust me, it doesn’t take all that long.

However, I only got a couple of paragraphs narrated before my daughter Tiffany made a FaceTime call to me. We talked for the hour or so or so that Terry was in the doctor’s office, but that’s okay. I love talking to my kids. They grew up to be pretty cool people in spite of having me as a father. That says something about them right there.

When Terry was finished, we went to Lowe’s to see if we could find some of the Thinset brick backing that we needed for behind the kitchen stove. They had it, but only in boxes that covered eight square feet and cost something like $78. All we need to fill in is an area 6 inches high by 30 inches wide. We went across the street to Home Depot, even though I much prefer shopping at Lowe’s because they give veterans a 10% discount every day of the year. They had pretty much the same thing at the same prices, so that was out. We went back to Lowe’s and found some other stuff that doesn’t match, but we could buy just a sheet or two tile mosaicsof it to do the job. We’ll have to see how that works out.

If you have been reading the blog for very long, you know that we enjoy browsing through antique shops, and one of our favorites is the Titusville Antique Mall. We decided to stop there before we left town, and since it wasn’t very busy and everybody is required to wear a mask and we have had our COVID-19 vaccinations, we were comfortable wandering around looking at stuff.

I found this sign and was tempted to buy it and hang it in the doorway to Terry’s loom room, but she said something about how I would learn just what happened if I disturbed her enough.

Terry was off doing her thing, and I was in another aisle when I came across an African American lady who was probably in her late 50s or early 60s. We said hello, and she said she had never been in an antique shop before, and it kind of surprised her because so many of the things that were called antiques were things that she had when she was growing up or as a young married woman. Me being me, I asked her if that meant she was old, too. She smiled behind her mask and said, “No, it just means I’m vintage.”

A while later, I bumped into her on another aisle and she mentioned how big the mall was (it’s a good size place, but not all that big compared to some of the antique malls we’ve been in) and that her feet were going to be killing her by the time she finished looking at everything. There was a pair of old roller skates with a skate key in one display next to where she was standing, and I suggested she buy those and she could just skate around. She laughed at that and that if she ever tried to put on roller skates, she would fall down and would need somebody to help her get her back on her feet, and then she would just fall right back down again. She was a nice lady, and I enjoyed chatting with her.

Then, just a few minutes later, we wound up together again in another vendor booth looking at some stuff, and I said, “You know, we can’t keep hanging out together like this. People are going to talk.” She laughed and said it probably wouldn’t work out anyway. I asked her if it was the age thing or the white thing, and she slapped me on the arm and said, “No, baby, it’s the chubby thing.” Funny, she didn’t seem all that chubby to me.

But isn’t it interesting that two strangers of different races can meet casually someplace and form a connection and enjoy a laugh or two, even if it’s fleeting? I think the world needs more of that, don’t you?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – It’s okay to fall apart now and then. Sometimes tacos do, and people still love them.