I was getting my hair cut a while back and The Not Nice Child was with me. While B was clipping away on my hair, TNNC was at the front desk with the girl who takes appointments and such. Appointment Girl was on the phone and TNNC was drawing.AG's husband is a union worker in construction with someone, and does a lot of stuff on the side. A LOT of stuff. AG was on the phone, trying to connect someone somewhere with her husband somewhere in order to set up some repair and construction events. It involved several phone calls and a lot of manipulations.
When AG finally hung up the phone, she turned to TNNC and said, "When you get to be a grown up, sometimes there's a lot of stress."
And TNNC, who is seven years old, stood there for a minute and then said, in her infinite wisdom, "You need to color more."
But my oldest and most favorite...When we were in high school and college, the guys I grew up with used to load up in the summer and drive west. They had a plan and a destination but they pretty much just...drove west. Waaaay west. Phillip is one of the most gifted people I've ever met, and one of his inclinations involves fixing things. He can fix ANYTHING...electrical, motorized, plumbing, construction...you name it, Phillip can build it or fix it. (He's a very good artist, too.) Anyway, the boys are driving through the desert and there, on the side of the road, is a broken-down VW van. With a "Dude" sitting on the sand, smoking a joint. (This was 30 years ago.) So my guys pull over and get out and Phillip goes up under the VW's hood to see what he can do. While he's working the other boys pull out a cooler of food and beer and sit down with the Dude, and eat and talk. And speed limits and troopers came up...this was before 70 mph was legal...I kinda think that we were in an energy crisis of some sort and the speed limit all over creation was 55. No matter where you were, you didn't go any faster than 55 miles per hour. And my boys were talking about radar detectors and CB radios (OMG! I had forgotten those) and watching for "Smokey" and Dude says, with his long hair and his VW van and his bell bottoms..."You know, I just do fifty-five and fuck it."
And I have decided, over the course of life and kids and marriage and poor service from the DirecTV people and constant reality checks...this is the secret to true happiness.
Just do fifty-five and fuck it.
Comments