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Turn On The Blinker, We’re Going Left

Life has many directions. I know this because I meet people at different crossroads all the time, and this week it has been at Starbucks. Take Richard (aka “Richy) for instance. Richy is an older retired fellow who worked for the postal service for 35 years. He comes into my Starbucks every day. He’s fun to talk to and always has something to say. Recently he told me how he has been moving with his roommate to another apartment building. I don’t know why they’re moving, but it seems it has been taking them a long time. His roommate is a funny guy too. He has long hair (and I don’t know his name) and owns TONS of Beatles paraphernalia. Richy on the other hand has been coming to Starbucks probably since it opened in 1971. He has every cup that you can think of and owns tons of Starbucks music CD’s. Sometimes he buys new cups just to stay up with the trends.

Then take this other lady. I don’t know her name, but she comes in often and has sort of a slur to her speech. I asked her how she was doing the other day and she proceeded to tell me that she walks with a limp, can’t speak loudly or even yell, and does OK for the most part. I asked her why and she told me she got into a bad car accident when she was younger, it’s pretty sad. But she’s a super cool lady, and always leaves a tip and is friendly to all of us.

Then take another customer. The other day he came in a started talking to one of the other employees working with me. After a few minutes he started crying. I didn’t really know what was going on, but after they were done talking my friend proceeded to tell me that this man’s 15 year old son committed suicide. Horrible. My friend then told me that he knew the father (who was talking to him) and that he was, “… a good father..”

Today, in our apartment building, the fire department came to one of the rooms on our floor. After talking to the apartment manager I learned that this man hadn’t been to work in a few days and they got worried and someone called 911. When they got there the man could barely move and they were checking for his life signs; I still don’t know the outcome.

I am not sharing all of this so you will go away depressed, but merely to remind us all that everyone has a story. Life is sort of about stories. When I walk around all I hear are different opinions about this and that, and what one guys thinks about something else, and how this person got ahead in life and how this person lost someone special. Everything is a story. Without stories we don’t have conversation. It could be a story about something that happened at work, or something that happened while driving. I mean, we listen to stories on the news all the time, but sometimes we become callous to it all I think. That’s why this blog is title what it is. We don’t even think about the blinker anymore. We just click it up or down and turn the direction we need to

I’m in the middle of my turn right now. I’m probably making a left hand turn because they are generally harder than most other turns. But that doesn’t mean my life is hard, it just means that I’m turning and I’ve a got a little more to go. Maybe you’re in the middle of a turn? I don’t think there’s a good way to end this blog, but I guess this is just how this kind of stuff is.

By Shay

A little bit, a little bit more.

2 replies on “Turn On The Blinker, We’re Going Left”

Thought provoking observations. Good luck on making you left turn. We miss you guys and hope to see you in May if not sooner. Daryl and Debbie

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