Get your own
 diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry

2004-09-25 - 2:30 p.m.

A few weeks ago, I walked through a block-deep CVS drugstore. They have some chairs in the back where I came in by the pharmacy counter, so I sat down for a bit, thinking about how it sucks that I have to rest after walking all of a block. Another customer came in a minute later and asked if I needed help.
People often ask if I need help now when they see my cane or if I�m okay after they see me fall down. That people can be so nice still amazes me, and I�ve gotten over my native Brooklyn skepticism. But usually, I don�t want any help, although I appreciate the sentiment. �No thanks, I�m fine.�
�Are you sure?�
God, I was just sitting there. I could just be waiting for a prescription or something. �Yeah, really. I�m okay.� I looked up annoyed.
In retrospect, she was very pretty and about my age. She was smiling at me, but turned away seeming disappointed and went off. I got up and walked through the store.
I�m told there�s a French expression, �l�esprit de l�escalier� (the spirit of the stairway), for all the things you realize on your way out that you should have said, all the things that went over your head at the time.
At the front door, I smacked myself in the head. Wait a sec. You were being hit on. And you were too busy brooding to notice. You were supposed to say: �I�m fine now, but if you want to help me order at the Starbucks across the street in ten minutes or so, that�d be real nice.� I almost wanted to turn back and find her, but that would be too dorky.
So, note to self: I ain�t dead yet. The world goes on and I must remember that, sick or not, I�m still a part of it and I go on as well. Life continues while I�m being morose. Pay some attention.

� 2004 Geoff Gladstone

previous - next

Sign My Guestbook!
powered by SignMyGuestbook.com

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!