I was sitting in my speech class on the first day and the instructor told us to, as an assignment, go to a party. That’s right, were were to go to a party. I didn’t, of course, cause I don’t go to parties. It’s not my scene. The assignment called for us to strike up a conversation with someone and just listen. We weren’t allowed to share stories back, offer advice or anything. All we could do was ask them to tell us more or to elaborate. After tonight’s encounter, I’ve decided to keep it up and write about the people I meet.
Fast forward to tonight, Monday 12 October 2009. There was something going on in the theatre and I was nosy. We took a test in a classroom that had computers then were set free until 7 when we had to regroup in our proper class room. I wandered through the art gallery looking at exhibits which consisted of pictures of signs through out Middle TN that were mad at the Columbia Neon Sign Company. There were blue prints, pictures, drawings, and even a box of old contracts and ledger pages dating back to the 1940s. But that didn’t tell me what was going on in the theatre.
I suffered through an hour of class then during break wandered to the far side of building, past the theatre, to that restroom to clean out my coffee cup and get some water to put my powdered tea into. While in the loo, I heard a strange sound outside the door. I surmised that someone was coming with some sort of cane or walker and opened the door. A woman about 5’2” dressed in a black sweater over a red top and black pants came in using a walker with wheels in the front and tennis balls on the back legs of it. She thanked me for holding the door and headed for the handicapped stall. I held the door open for her again and she closed it behind her.
I finished cleaning and filling my cup and then repinned my hair to stall for time till the lady emerged from the stall. I knew she’d need help with the door again and it wasn’t too much trouble to wait a moment. She emerged a few moments later and teased me that I was very pretty already and didn’t need to fix my hair anymore. I told her I was repinning it so it wouldn’t fall in my face while I was writing notes. She asked me if I was a student and I said yes. She asked what I was studying to do and I gave her the reader’s digest version. She told me that in her day education wasn’t that important and that I was smart to get one. By that time she was done washing her hands and was and was ready to head back to the theatre.
As I held open the door for her again, I asked her what was going on. She said the Kiawanas were having their yearly fund raiser. They have some sort of travel presentation come and you can purchase DVDs of different countries. So she was telling me that she had traveled to England and France and several places in the US. She wanted to travel more. She said she and her husband had started to travel in their seventies because when he had retired, she was still working. She then had a stroke which stopped their traveling for awhile.
As I followed her down the wrong hall way, she mentioned that her husband had been in WWII and that he was in Japan and the Pacific theatre. He had done some traveling then and then they traveled together in their retirement. She told me I needed to get out and see things, that it would be good for me. I asked her if she needed help finding her way and she laughed and said if I wasn’t there she’d be lost for sure. We walked back to the lobby and I walked her to the theatre door and held it for her. She thanked me again and wished me a good night.
I didn’t tell me her name, and I didn’t tell her mine, but I think I know enough information that I could find her again. I’m tempted to attend a Kiawanas meeting and see if she’ll tell me more about her travels and her husband’s time over seas. I wonder if they belong to the American Legion? Stay tuned to see if I can catch up with her again.
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