As a new puppy mom and with puppy and big brother and big sister sitting out in the car (Liam in his crate, of course), I was rushing through the store to pick up a couple of items.
Three dogs in the car and one of the whimpering ilk-----one does move with a new kick to the step these days, and it's not because I'm feeling the fountain of Youth.
It's necessity, and I'm a new puppy mother, so I invent faster ways to get things done. Well, my road through the big box store turned out to be paved with good intentions but fraught with slight detours---or shall we say unplanned stops along the way.
Seems many of the folks I saw during this Wal-Mart visit were very familiar---longtime friends, former students, etc.
One doesn't just race past Jan Meneely with a quick wave. One has to stop. Jan is the most amazing lady. She's the mother of three lovely daughters, all of whom were members of the SHS Ponderettes Drill team while I was advising the group.
Back in the late '70s, the Meneely house in Kootenai served as setting for much sewing of drill team accessories. I don't know how I----a white-ribbon seamstress (generously speaking) would have survived without the help of my friend Jan.
Jan also helped chaperone drill team overnight trips when we'd go to Canada or to Wenatchee.
While Jan was helping with drill team stuff on Sunday afternoons, little Willie Love was charming and impressing the heck out of Jan's husband Jim.
After all, when a little toddler can play all the positions on the football team on your living room floor while you're watching NFL games, that's pretty impressive.
Yup, Willie, at a young age, was a Russell Wilson supreme. He could throw the passes and catch them at the same time.
Anyway, I did stop for a moment to visit with Jan, who is much more amazing than Willie of yesteryear. She had a lower leg amputated a couple of years ago, and, unless one knew this, one would never guess. She's pain free after years of suffering and has mastered the art of walking with a prosthesis.
I always thought Jan was an amazing woman; now I'm positive.
After driving on with my cart to go pick up some lipstick and some more red bows to put out on my fence, I saw trouble in the form of three people at the end of one aisle, visiting.
I could speed on by, I thought to myself BUT to hurry past Patti and Bernie McGovern and my classmate Linda Patton Dillon-----not a nice thing to do.
So, I stopped, fully aware that by now, Liam, in his crate, could be setting off all the car alarms in the parking lot with his high-pitched whimpers or that possibly someone would be calling 911, summoning the police to the car where animal cruelty was being inflicted.
To heck with the potential headline in the Bee ( Local Animal Activist Leaves Screaming Puppy in Cold Car). I worried more about dissing my longtime friends than preserving my self image.
So, I stopped to talk to Patti, Bernie and Linda. That lasted about 15 minutes. Liam could scream. We had important things, as longtime locals, to discuss. One of those topics involved smart phones.
Seems Patti has had hers for a month and still hasn't figured out how to receive calls on her smart phone.
"Don't you have kids who can show you that stuff?" I asked.
"Yeah, but we never see them," she said. Of course, the kids could have called her to see if they could come to visit several times since Patti got her smart phone, but she couldn't talk to them because she needs to learn how to use her phone.
Speaking of talking, Patti also mentioned, after Linda and I talked about our reunion, that we oldsters just need to get together somewhere and talk.
That's when I remembered that someone whom I'd forgotten at the time told me she was gonna set something up at the museum so we could sit in a row and just talk old times.
While I was trying to remember who that longtime friend was who had told me she was gonna set up that museum gathering, someone among the three of us mentioned that sometimes those talkers (of our age) don't get all the facts quite right.
Kinda sounded to me like the 24-hour news cycle. Seems the age or knowledge of the teller doesn't make a difference when you want a story told.
Anyway, the visit moved on, and I learned that Bernie DOES know how to use his smart phone. He pulled it out to show the rest of us a skit from "Saturday Night Live" that he had learned about through a text from his granddaughter.
Maybe Bernie can show his wife how to use her smart phone, so she can talk to OR text those kids and grandkids.
Bernie showed us part of the "Saturday Night Live" skit, featuring Thanksgiving Dinner and a selection from world-renowned singer Adele's new album.
Knowing for sure that by now I'd see police cars circled around the Suburu out there in the parking lot and bomb squad dogs out there sniffing to see if that little Liam and all his whimpering was a real dog and not an explosive, I said "Adieu," and headed to check-out.
Pushing the cart out the door, I was relieved. No police cars. Heck, I couldn't even hear Liam. Arriving at the car, I found three dogs sleeping soundly.
What was the worry? No headlines from Wal-Mart for tomorrow's paper.
And, by golly this morning, I remembered; it was Sally Davis Transue who wants us to go sit at the museum and "talk." That should be fun, regardless of how much truth comes out.
We all lived the last six or seven decades together, so we'll still have a good time swapping truth and a few slightly modified tales.
I also had time this morning to watch the rest of the video Bernie pulled up on his smart phone.
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I'm really glad that I took time out from running for dogs to enjoy some great laughs and visiting with my old friends-----and then to end it all with sleeping dogs lying!
Happy Thursday. Enjoy the SNL skit if you haven't already seen it three million times.
1 comment:
Great video! Thanks Marianne & Bernie!
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