Adventure 1 – The Lunch of the White Vans

I left my physical therapist’s office and drove to a nearby shopping center to go to the bank for some weekend mad money.

• A white van tried to back out of a parking spot, into my car.
• I then drove home on unplowed streets. Someone had abandoned a white van in the middle of the street on which my garage/driveway is located.
• I managed to get to a main thoroughfare, where I got stuck behind yet another white van, driving 20 mph on a bare street.
• We diverged at a major intersection. But as I drove closer to my day job, a white van backed out of the bakery right in front of me.

Was it a white van conspiracy?

Adventure 2 – Someday, This Could Be Me

I went to the bank (see Adventure 1). A very old man, stooped over his walker and accompanied by a somewhat younger woman using a cane, slogged through the slush-filled parking lot toward the door. I patiently followed, hoping they were going inside the lobby and not to the ATM machine in the vestibule.

No such luck. The man gingerly made his way to the ATM and announced his pants were falling down. Well, yes. They were. I looked away. His companion replied, “Then pull them up.” So he did, very slowly, very carefully, and muttering all the while that he needed another button.

Eventually, he began is transaction. The woman announced his pin number to the world and the amount of money he was withdrawing. He muttered about that being an awful lot of money. (And it just occurred to me maybe the woman was in some way ripping him off!)

In the meantime, several other people came to use the ATM. Some left, others got in line behind me.

When he was finished, he turned and saw all of us waiting, and apologized for being so slow.

You know what? Someday, with any kind of luck, we’ll all be that old. I replied, “Not a problem at all. You have a real nice day.”