Simple Pleasures

Simple Pleasures

January 12, 2009

            Do you have your story this week?" son Mike questioned me.  Mike lives in Pittsburgh and is a much more advanced writer than I, but likes to encourage me.

            "Mike, I haven't had time"

            "Nothing should interfere with your writing.  Get busy, Lady." he laughed as he admonished me.

            Recently a gentleman caller, as my grandmother probably would say, has taken up some of my time.

            Ed was married to my very dear friend Gloria who passed away a while ago.  He was also a friend of my late husband.  Their daughter married our son, and we have two mutual granddaughters.

            Ed and I attend the same church and usually go to 5:30 mass on Saturdays. One snowy evening, Ed called and offered me a ride.  He and Gloria had often done that when conditions were bad.  The roads were icy that evening, so I gratefully accepted.  When we got to church, he sat in the section he and Gloria had always used, and I sat where Bill and I usually did.  We called it sitting with Bill and Gloria.

            After mass, Ed suggested coffee at The Cookery.  We shared many things during our conversation.  I had been a widow four years, and he was a recent widower.  I think I helped him deal with things a little better that night.  He also helped me.  We had both enjoyed 50 years of very good, solid marriage.  Gradually, we worked into a comfortable relationship.

            Recently, we made a trip to the Eastwood Mall to exchange a few presents.  We decided to make it sort of an adventure.  We slowly walked through the mall, noticing things we might ordinarily pass by.  Neither of us had been there for years, and we felt like country folk in the big city.  There was a large aquarium centrally located.

            "Let's look at the fish," I said as I walked toward the beautiful blue wall of water.  We paused to study the colorful uniqueness of each fish.

            "I wonder if when they mate, they select each other by color,"  I questioned.  "They are all so perfect.  We stood there quietly contemplating the life of a fish, then slowly proceeded on our way.

            I helped Ed select a winter jacket in Old Navy.  He probably wouldn't have gone into that store if I hadn't prodded him.  He found a perfect warm brown quilted coat on sale for $18.  Happy with his great find, we stepped to the checkout line.  The young clerk was very friendly and we carried on a brief conversation with her.  I told her we hadn't been to this mall for ages and were enjoying memories about the stores that had disappeared.

            "You don't remember the carousel, do you?" she asked.

            "Of course," I replied.

            "Goodness, I guess it has been a long time since you were here."

            We joked with her a few minutes more.

            "I'm so glad you were my first customers.  You are so pleasant and have made my day,"  she laughed as she handed Ed his package and receipt.

            We walked around a while, decided we were hungry and drove to The Olive Garden near the mall.  The hostess led us to a table.  We sat down, removed our coats, looked at each other and smiled.

            Our waitress brought us our water.  She smiled, and we spoke with her a minute, asking about her family.  She happily told us about her twin daughters.  As she walked away, I said to Ed, "Do you realize we have not met a mean person today.  Everyone has been so nice."  I paused thoughtfully a moment.  "Maybe that's because we are happy today."

            Ed smiled again, and we agreed we both enjoyed that simply outing.

            Last week I had to return some books to the library, accompanied by Ed.  He asked me if there was a way to look up old high school sports items.  We asked the young man at the desk, and he took us over to the microfiche viewer.  We had no idea what to do.

            "What year are you looking for?" he asked.

            Oh around 1949-50," Ed answered.  The boy unlocked a file case and searched for Ed's request.  The film was on a spool about 5" in diameter.  He showed us how to put it in the machine, then left us to play with it.  We fed the film under the glass and watched the screen in front of us as each page on the May 1950 Herald passed before us.

            We couldn't stop reading.  So many of the items in the paper we remembered.  We laughed at the ads and the prices of the merchandise.  Also, the many stores that are no longer here.  The microfiche goes back to the 1800's when the very first Herald was published.  We intended to return and view that next time.

            After the library visit, we went for coffee at the downtown McDonald's and sat at the front window peering out at State Street.  We sat in thoughtful silence, each of us painting our minds with times and places past.

            Both our lives have changed dramatically but we feel through our past pain and realize we have had very blessed lives.  We have seen good friends and family members leave us so rapidly and realize we need to live life fully and try to enjoy simple pleasures, as Ed say, "because we can."