I just did the most adult thing I have ever done in my whole adult life. I declined a girl trip. Me…”Adulting”! It sucks! After the 7th grade, my brain went on a reprieve, so saying no to a slumber party at my sister’s beach house in the Sunshine State hurts as much as saying yes to a crowded hot yoga class. (HA! Like I would go to yoga class…) Do you remember the good ol days? It seems like centuries ago we were having lunch with friends, traveling in large groups, and hugging a child. I miss my grands and my gals…this is painful.
So now that I have ALL the time in the world to stay home and write about the bags of potato chips I’m consuming, the movies I’m renting, and the amount of Chardonnay I’m putting away I want to tell you a true story.
When Gary and I walk the neighborhood we typically choose to walk down one of the quietest streets in Gainesville called Valley Road. Often you will see a family of curious deer staring you square in the eye, groundhogs peaking out from their homes, and more squirrels and chipmunks scurrying up tree trunks than you could count! This winding road with tall oaks, dogwoods, and rows of magnolias will take you to Riverside Drive where you see the neighbors checking their mailboxes, blowing leaves, or reading newspapers on the front porches. A God bless the USA kinda street. Walkers, runners, bikers…and dimes. Earlier this week when we were strolling down this path of ours I noticed Gary lagging far behind so I turned to see why. I find him crouching in slow motion (taking more time than he would like for me to tell) picking something up off the street. I said in my what the hell are you doing wife voice, “What in the hell are you doing?” As he (in slow motion) un-crouches, sheepishly smiles and quickly sneaks this prize into his pants pocket announcing …A DIME! With far too much pride!
Of course, my response is “REALLY GARY? You need to pick that filthy coin up off this filthy street with all that is going on in the world right now?” “REALLY?” I muttered a little longer under my breath but loud enough for him to hear…”You NEED that dime…come on?” (and maybe, just maybe…I wouldn’t let it go)
By now we are finally getting closer to home when a fit and youthful jogger trotting down the opposite side of the road passes us by… holds up his hand high as though he is sending the old folks a high five or a friendly hello and shouts with a gregarious grin, “SOCIAL DISTANCING!!!”
and Gary said, “I wish I had a dime for every time I have heard that!”
Missing You So!
Love it! I laughed out loud! Such a Gaines thing!
GAINES through and through!
I have missed your blogs! This one was great!!
I MISS YOU! Not much to write about these days! Missing Denise’s birthday and I’m pissed…but my Chardonnay comforts me! 🙂
I laughed out loud even though I’ve already heard the story!
You have to hear ALL of my “stories” more than once! Your Dad has the best one-liners!
Traaaacccyyy…. I love you enough to pause “Tiger King” on Netflix long enough to read your Blog😽🙀😽❤️❤️ ONLY for you would I do this😉, and IF you’re one of the few that have NOT watched this docu-series, I only have to say “SERIOUSLY???” …. “Seriously,” get your act together!!!!!
Seriously YOU CALM DOWN! I watched it until one in the morning…thank you! It’s great and so are you!
I laughed out loud when I got to the end of this! So funny! Don’t tell Gary that I found the filthiest Twenty Dollar bill that might have been buried under the snow this week in our parking lot. I picked it up, washed it off, dried it and bought more wine with it! God wanted me to do that. I’m sure of it!!
Carole
Way to go Carole! A wine find would make my day!
Love this one! Maybe I’ll see you on the street!
See ya on the street! Not a bad place to be!
Oh so,so very good!! And I’ve been doing a lot of reading and podcast listening lately! Glad to see for ONCE in your life,you are following rules for us humans. I figure if all those frontliners( nurses,docs,grocery cashiers,pharmacy staff,etc) are showing up to save my bum,then at least I can stay home and sit on it!
Now I know why I never wanted to “grow-up”…it takes all the fun away! But I do agree it was the “right thing to do”…and I’m pretty good at sitting on my bum with a glass in my hand! Stay healthy!
Cute story! Wonder how many people owned that dime one time or another. I miss those pretty streets. I can hardly remember when I could actually run those streets and the track at Riverside when we lived on the island. Another life ago!
It’s a great neighborhood, but I’m sure those Floridians are good neighbors too! Your pictures are beautiful. I enjoy seeing them, your paintings, and you at the beach! Miss you!