On the sidewalk, & a death
May. 1st, 2007 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misterxThis actually happened yesterday.
I was out walking at lunchtime with my camera, experimenting with infrared. I'll post some of those later. I was heading back towards the office, and ahead on the sidewalk sat a young woman with long dark hair, heavy but not unpleasantly so, leaning against a telephone pole with a trash bag full of something in her left hand. She stared blankly ahead.
As I passed I said "Hello", and her face suddenly brightened and she said "Hi!" with animation and warmth in her voice, but then immediately lowered her eyes and quietly said "Sorry..."
I walked the next block wondering why she had said "sorry" like that.
I walked the block after that wondering why I hadn't asked her.
In an unrelated note, my grandfather passed away today. My extended family lives mostly in the midwest, and so I haven't seen him for years. Last time I saw him at my parent's house in NJ he had suffered a stroke and couldn't talk. He mostly sat on the sidewalk and pulled weeds, cutting the dandelion roots under the surface with his pocketknife. He had more strokes after that. Mom and Dad tell me that last time they visited him at the nursing home, he didn't even recognize them. I remember him mostly as he was when I was a child, both gruff and playful... he had a wallet on a chain that we kids would delight in pulling out and letting drop as we ran away. He feigned surprise and anger every time. He was a farmer. He was a tall, tan man... he looked a lot then like my father looks now. I am thankful my kids live closer to my parents, and will get to know them more than I knew mine.
I miss Grandpa Woody, and I'm very sad he passed. I'm also sad for my father.
I was out walking at lunchtime with my camera, experimenting with infrared. I'll post some of those later. I was heading back towards the office, and ahead on the sidewalk sat a young woman with long dark hair, heavy but not unpleasantly so, leaning against a telephone pole with a trash bag full of something in her left hand. She stared blankly ahead.
As I passed I said "Hello", and her face suddenly brightened and she said "Hi!" with animation and warmth in her voice, but then immediately lowered her eyes and quietly said "Sorry..."
I walked the next block wondering why she had said "sorry" like that.
I walked the block after that wondering why I hadn't asked her.
In an unrelated note, my grandfather passed away today. My extended family lives mostly in the midwest, and so I haven't seen him for years. Last time I saw him at my parent's house in NJ he had suffered a stroke and couldn't talk. He mostly sat on the sidewalk and pulled weeds, cutting the dandelion roots under the surface with his pocketknife. He had more strokes after that. Mom and Dad tell me that last time they visited him at the nursing home, he didn't even recognize them. I remember him mostly as he was when I was a child, both gruff and playful... he had a wallet on a chain that we kids would delight in pulling out and letting drop as we ran away. He feigned surprise and anger every time. He was a farmer. He was a tall, tan man... he looked a lot then like my father looks now. I am thankful my kids live closer to my parents, and will get to know them more than I knew mine.
I miss Grandpa Woody, and I'm very sad he passed. I'm also sad for my father.
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no subject
on 2007-05-03 09:57 am (UTC)Having a grandparent die is very saddening. Take care.. know that you are cared about by so many and we all wish you well..