A cold wind blows and life just rolls along
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 1:30PM 
As they say, no matter what happens, life just keeps rolling along. It's true. If you don't believe it, all you need to do is to glance into your rearview mirror. There you will see that people continue to smile, to laugh, and to drive big pickup trucks under the low high-noon sun of a chill, windy, day.
As for Margie and me, we need to eat and there was not much food in the refrigerator, or the cupboards, either. So we set out for the store, to do some grocery shopping. Yet, we were hungry right now, so we by-passed the grocery store and continued on toward Taco Bell, where we ate lightly - a bean burrito for Margie, an original crunchy taco for me, plus a small Pepsi and a Diet Pepsi for her.
Of all the fast food joints, Taco Bell is the best for eating lightly. Several years ago, I decided that I needed to lose 15 or 20 pounds and so I went on a diet that included lunch at Taco Bell, just about every day. Even when one loses weight, one must enjoy life.
It worked, too. In about three months, I met my goal.
Some of that weight has come back, but not all of it.
Once we had eaten, it was time to go to the grocery store. Along the way, while stopped for a red light, we saw some kids rolling along in a school bus. They looked trapped to me, prisoners of a system that they did not create but that seems to get us all. They did not look very happy - yet I see that one seems to be smiling a bit.
The driver doesn't look very happy, either.
I really don't like to shop at all - unless its for cameras, computers, airplanes, canoes, guns and things like that, that I can never afford to buy anyway. So I dropped Margie off at Carr's and then headed over to the Post Office to check the mail.
I parked by this car and went inside.
We got a credit card bill and an Aperture magazine. A day has now passed and I have yet to remove Aperture from its protective cover and even to glance at the cover.
In the past, I would tear these magazines open right away and, at first opportunity, spend an hour or two - sometimes more - just devouring the contents.
Not necessarily devouring the words - because they always manage to write a lot of nonsensical hyperbole in these photographic magazines as they try to explain just what it is or was that put the photographers featured on a different plane, but the photos.
Just the photos - some more than others.
Aperture has never featured any of my photos. That's mighty foolish of them, if you ask me.
Then I went back to Carr's to help Margie finish the shopping. Even so, we forgot to buy frozen raspberries.
I wanted some frozen raspberries.
After we bought the groceries, we returned home. I sat down to my computer to work and accomplished nothing - nothing at all. At the usual time, I headed off to Metro Cafe, to get my 4:00 o'clock cup and listen to NPR.
I pulled up to the window and did not even have to order because Carmen knew. I started to pull out my wallet, but she would not let me. Then she showed me this $5.00 bill and note from Shoshauna. Due to her changed schedule, I now only see Shoshauna on Saturday's, assuming that I can get to Metro before she leaves at 2:45.
Shoshauna was buying my coffee this day - and the next. too.
She reads this blog, too, you know. It was an act of kindness and care on her part.
Thank you, Shauna.
And keep writing.
Just keep writing.
One day, I will buy you a coffee - from one Wasilla writer to another.
I did give Carmen a pumpkin cookie after Thanksgiving.
On the way home, this young bull moose ran into the road in front of me. I saw it well ahead and so it was not a close call. Just another, typical, everyday moment, right here, in Wasilla, Alaska - where I find moments to thrill to the sight of what surrounds me, to smile and to laugh, despite the great sadness that blankets the land and all that it holds.
Reader Comments (6)
I wish I knew the words I need to express my appreciation for you and Margie. Margie is my favorite name, too. It belonged to my beloved Grandma. I have thought of you so much this last week. I know Wasilla is your home and you never need to explain to me. Thank you both so much. From Juneau, with love.
please, hold on to those moments.
life does roll on and on and sometimes we wonder how it can...sending warm thoughts
taco bell's also my fave fast food place. love the shot of margie in the grocery store. and that moose crossing the road is priceless. as a write this, on the first day of december, it's pouring buckets outside...b'ful sound.
It is one thing that I've learned in 53 years, that my saddest time will be someone else's happiest day, that in the middle of my laughter, someone else is grieving. That when I am sleeping, someone else is in the middle of their day, doing. The world is full of stories. You knew Soundarya and Anil's story. But do you ever wonder about the stories that you don't know? The world goes on and on and those stories unfold, continually. Life rolls on because our stories roll on. We are our stories, and you tell yours in a very nice way. You give us glimpses of the stories of others, as they are unfolding. Your blog is actually a documentary of 'life rolling on'.
Thank you for an interesting an personal photo blog! Best Regards! Nils (Stockholm, Sweden)