I found out that I got my way on all the English department hiring/placement decisions for next school year. This will make it *way* less likely that I'll have to hit any of you up for bail money. 
I Am Happy Today Because . . .
- Thread starter MadamMack
- Start date
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I'm happy today because I. Am. ALIVE! I am blessed and I have everything I need and more. I've got good people in my life and a spunk load of good books to read!
Yep, I said spunk!!!!!!
Yep, I said spunk!!!!!!
You just never know, do you?
The town in which I live -- the actual village -- sits hard by the Minnesota River and, as I bicycle everywhere in the summer, it is very easy for me to glide down the hill into the river valley when I want to do some shopping or stop at the library. Once the highway came through and they put the Super Target up there, people don't come down here much, and that's okay with me. We got a McDonald's last year, too. My town is dying . . . but I digress.
It's easy to come into town, but of course that means I have to work to get back. I don't mind that so much. I ride my bike because it's good for me and good for you -- all of us -- at the same time. So anyway, when I go home I have to work it up that hill. It's about a mile -- give or take -- and the grade might be as much as 45 degrees. I am not a young man (although I am younger right now than I am going to be very soon) and this takes me some time. I don't go very fast, is the point.
So the other day I'm crawling up the hill on my bike and I see these kids -- three kids -- walking toward me into the village. Now, the bike paths are very wide and there's room for everyone and the normal social interaction in these situations is to do the upward nod. Do you guys know about this?
You just kind of tilt your head up in acknowledgement that you have encountered another wanderer -- you may smile as you do this, or not, as you please -- and then you carry on your way. Well, these kids were walking three abreast, the way you would, but they got in single file as I passed to let me by and I started to do the little upward nod thing and the first kid reaches out his left hand toward me, so I can slap him five . . . give him some skin, as we used to say when I was a kid.
Remember Gordie LaChance and Chris Chambers near the end of The Body? Like that.
Now these kids were young -- I can't really tell how old people are anymore, everyone looks impossibly young to me now -- I guess the first kid might have been somewhere around 10. So he sticks his hand out and I think, "Wow! How about that?" and I slap the kid five and he goes "Alright!", just like I would have done six or seven hundred years ago, when I was his age.
The second kid was much taller -- probably a brother, a couple years older -- and did the nodding thing, but he didn't slap me five, and the last kid was so obviously the first kid's little brother I just knew he was gonna do it, too . . . and he did. He was a little more tentative, but he went for it and I gave him some skin (man) and I said "That's right, fellas!" and I rode on up the hill and back into whatever my life is.
I've been smiling about that ever since.
I see so many people nowadays who almost never look up . . . or hide behind sunglasses and headphones and cast a disparaging eye on anyone who might dare acknowledge that we're supposed to be living in a society . . . I guess it just does my heart good to know that not everybody is walking around terrified that somebody might actually -- you know -- engage them somehow.
Those kids . . .
Well . . . good for them, is all I say.
And have a nice day.
The town in which I live -- the actual village -- sits hard by the Minnesota River and, as I bicycle everywhere in the summer, it is very easy for me to glide down the hill into the river valley when I want to do some shopping or stop at the library. Once the highway came through and they put the Super Target up there, people don't come down here much, and that's okay with me. We got a McDonald's last year, too. My town is dying . . . but I digress.
It's easy to come into town, but of course that means I have to work to get back. I don't mind that so much. I ride my bike because it's good for me and good for you -- all of us -- at the same time. So anyway, when I go home I have to work it up that hill. It's about a mile -- give or take -- and the grade might be as much as 45 degrees. I am not a young man (although I am younger right now than I am going to be very soon) and this takes me some time. I don't go very fast, is the point.
So the other day I'm crawling up the hill on my bike and I see these kids -- three kids -- walking toward me into the village. Now, the bike paths are very wide and there's room for everyone and the normal social interaction in these situations is to do the upward nod. Do you guys know about this?
You just kind of tilt your head up in acknowledgement that you have encountered another wanderer -- you may smile as you do this, or not, as you please -- and then you carry on your way. Well, these kids were walking three abreast, the way you would, but they got in single file as I passed to let me by and I started to do the little upward nod thing and the first kid reaches out his left hand toward me, so I can slap him five . . . give him some skin, as we used to say when I was a kid.
Remember Gordie LaChance and Chris Chambers near the end of The Body? Like that.
Now these kids were young -- I can't really tell how old people are anymore, everyone looks impossibly young to me now -- I guess the first kid might have been somewhere around 10. So he sticks his hand out and I think, "Wow! How about that?" and I slap the kid five and he goes "Alright!", just like I would have done six or seven hundred years ago, when I was his age.
The second kid was much taller -- probably a brother, a couple years older -- and did the nodding thing, but he didn't slap me five, and the last kid was so obviously the first kid's little brother I just knew he was gonna do it, too . . . and he did. He was a little more tentative, but he went for it and I gave him some skin (man) and I said "That's right, fellas!" and I rode on up the hill and back into whatever my life is.
I've been smiling about that ever since.
I see so many people nowadays who almost never look up . . . or hide behind sunglasses and headphones and cast a disparaging eye on anyone who might dare acknowledge that we're supposed to be living in a society . . . I guess it just does my heart good to know that not everybody is walking around terrified that somebody might actually -- you know -- engage them somehow.
Those kids . . .
Well . . . good for them, is all I say.
And have a nice day.
What a nice story. I like it when people acknowledge you when you are out and about. I like walking in this big city. I find that,even on the racier strip where I walk, Edmontonians usually give a nod or say hello...some make small comments. I find the folks here to be the friendliest I have ever encountered in large cities before.
I have this friend who came to the Twin Cities from somewhere in North Dakota. He loves to tell the story about how, back home -- out on some prairie where almost nobody lives -- people wave to each other as they pass while driving. I like that, and it would seem easy enough to do when you might see six or eight trucks go by in a day . . . harder and harder to do the closer you get to the population centers.
He would laugh and talk about all the strange looks he would get from these people he passed on the highways the closer he got to the cities.
It's a shame the way we tend to lose the niceties along the way.
I couldn't tell you how many times I looked like an idiot trying to open a door or pull out a chair for a lady until I finally just gave it up as a bad job.
I got some new Klipsch speakers today. Awesome and thunderous.
I live in ND and spent a few years on a farm about 20-30 miles from where I am now. Out in the country, especially on gravel roads, this friendly gesture is extremely common. The older farmers wave to everyone they pass - there is even a "special" wave (it's more like the sudden hand movement of throwing a baseball and then stops suddenly). Wish I could explain it better. It was one of the things I truly enjoyed about farm life.
I am happy today because I forced myself to go to an outside work event to benefit the United Way. It was a social picnic type thing that you had to interact with alot of different people.
But moving to a new area, I have to do these things.
But moving to a new area, I have to do these things.
I live in ND and spent a few years on a farm about 20-30 miles from where I am now. Out in the country, especially on gravel roads, this friendly gesture is extremely common. The older farmers wave to everyone they pass - there is even a "special" wave (it's more like the sudden hand movement of throwing a baseball and then stops suddenly). Wish I could explain it better. It was one of the things I truly enjoyed about farm life.
I am known in my neighborhood as "the waving neighbor." I don't do much chitchatting with anyone, but I always wave.
Pucker That's a great feel good story! Gives a little hope for the future.
fljoe0 Cool speakers dude!
@morgan and Sister Wife Dana Jean and staropeace
I come from a town where everyone waves. I'm a smiler and sometimes waver.
not_nadine Get out there, girl!
I'm kinda happy today. It's all a little better everyday.
I have seen this kind of butterfly a few times recently. It makes me happy.
fljoe0 Cool speakers dude!
@morgan and Sister Wife Dana Jean and staropeace I come from a town where everyone waves. I'm a smiler and sometimes waver.
not_nadine Get out there, girl!
I'm kinda happy today. It's all a little better everyday.
I have seen this kind of butterfly a few times recently. It makes me happy.
Hi, Holly! The picture of that butterfly makes me happy! It's beautiful.Pucker That's a great feel good story! Gives a little hope for the future.
fljoe0 Cool speakers dude!
I come from a town where everyone waves. I'm a smiler and sometimes waver.
not_nadine Get out there, girl!
I'm kinda happy today. It's all a little better everyday.
I have seen this kind of butterfly a few times recently. It makes me happy.
I used to come from a waving neighborhood. Not here. Sad. Neighbors wont even look you in the eye as you pass.
Maybe I should get another jeep or motorcycle - we always wave.
Maybe I should get another jeep or motorcycle - we always wave.
When I drove a Miata, and saw another, we waved, or raised the headlights up and down (1990 headlights).
I noticed that a few times while driving my rusty Jeep - other Jeep drivers would wave. I didn't realize it was a movement. Cool!
Jeep owners: were you ever driving a different vehicle and did the "Jeep wave" and then remembered you weren't in the Jeep and felt stupid?
Or is that just me?
Or is that just me?
I live in a waving neighborhood. It's kind of a sweeping sideways wave that means, "Get the hell out of my way"
I am happy today because I do not have to dig the fence post holes I've been putting off as it is raining here right now. I'm sad because I'll have to do it eventually. I'm lazy.
I'm happy because Karen, and the kids will be gone for quite awhile today! Peace, and quiet for me!