Crying (1 of 2): Visit with my parents.

Last month when I met my parents for a visit in this one college town in my homestate - that made the most sense to meet in terms of Covid precautions and whatnot - the first full day that we were there, we went to an archaeological museum, and after we had done that all day with a break for lunch, we took a meandering walk back towards downtown and the hotel, and my mom and I sat to stop and rest while my dad stepped off to go have a smoke.

And, my mother started talking about how when I was a high school senior I got a full ride to that school, and how they called me up to ask me what I wanted to go there, and all of these little details from way back then, many of which I had forgotten, and all of which were already more than two decades and more than half my life ago, and it was just like she was re-living and dwelling in that small thing from so long ago, and she was fully lost to the present.

And, I started crying, since she suddenly seemed so old.

Weird reaction to reading the Bible.

So, I’ve been keeping on reading the Bible in order to read all of it, and I’m in 1^st Samuel now.

Maybe it’s because of different life experiences that I’ve had, but I keep wondering what the people were really like, who underlie all of these traditions.

Like, was David a narcissist?

The whole taking over from Saul thing, getting people on his side, it kind of seems a little like the good parts of narcissism that get people swept up in them, it seems to me now, from what I know of life.

Another overheard interchange at the resthome…

…when I saw my one (Nigerian) coworker bump into a(n African-American) caregiver who was just getting on shift:

“It’s been a long time,” he was like, immediately after they both said hello.

. . .

(I noticed that he said this to me a few months ago, after a period where I hadn’t seen him in a while – perhaps he’s translating into English some Nigerian greeting custom, maybe something from Yoruba?)

An overheard interchange at the resthome…

…when I was escorting the one resident who moves slowly and for some reason something surprised her and she said the word “Jesus!” several times in a row as we were walking past a(n Africana) worker from upstairs who happened to be right there in that same hallway waiting in line for a Covid test:

The resident (surprised): “Jesus!”

The (Africana) worker from upstairs (quickly): “is Lord.”

The resident (surprised): “Jesus!”

The (Africana) worker from upstairs (quickly) “is Lord.”

2 major housecleaning finds…

…from the bottom compartment of my work backpack:

1)      - A set of notes on the relationships of various Kennedy family members to Joe McCarthy, taken by the one resthome resident who’s an introvert and given to me after we had chatted a while about that aspect of a book she was reading; and

2)      - Two permission notes for my caretaking jobs, from Summer 2020, that were “just in case” there was a citywide curfew and I needed to have something demonstrating that I was a frontline worker and could be out and about and on my way to work, when no-one else was supposed to be out on the streets.

Addendum, on how memory works.

Upon reviewing the actual Halloween decorations after writing up that last post, it turns out that my landlord didn't actually hang fake cobwebs all over the little fence on that little section of grass that's in front of my place to keep dogs from pooping on it; instead, my mind must have filled that detail in, as I thought back about what I knew about what was out there.

They say that memory works like that, you know.

Halloween decorations.

This year my landlord put out Halloween decorations again, like a big pumpkin sitting out on the patch of grass between the sidewalk and the curb that’s fenced off so people don’t come and let their dogs poop on it, and spider webs and a giant spider placed onto that same little fence there.

There’s also a little poop emoji sign that says something about not letting your dog poop there that’s been up all year since way before Halloween, and I almost want to ask him if he’ll put a witch’s hat on it or something, since that totally would seem appropriate and would actually look kind of good on it.