Thursday, July 8, 2010

No, by no means, Yes

Before the sun’s alarm went off, I was listening to a homemade video on YouTube of a woman playing a popular song on the piano. Her hands and the piano key board were all you saw. I allowed myself to close my eyes and see my hands when I played the piano. I felt the chords vibrate against me. For those two or three minutes I was the pianist, the melody and the lyrics which were only in my head.

I ironed a white t-shirt to wear with my slacks instead of the usual “business casual” dress shirt. It made me giggle and feel impish. I’ve never worn a t-shirt to work except on Fridays when jeans are allowed. This morning simply called for a t-shirt. An old codger in the plant, who has a grand toothless smile, drove his forklift next to me. He leaned over and with that grand smile, said “Look’n good missy” and drove off. Taken aback, all I could do was roar with laughter. Those around looked concerned until they realized I was laughing.

I donned my French Revolution dapper beret and went underground today. I worked with the guys in the plant instead of working with finance. One by one they would turn their head right and left to make sure the coast was clear. They would ask “can you get this?” or “does this make sense?” and “can we prove this?” We would “happen” to meet in the hall or in the plant. We plotted our revolution with a wary eye on the “beautiful building’s” horizon where the people in suits and clean fingernails worked.

Day over, off to the store. I joined a woman and her older mother in a hearty laugh when the mother kept trying to put stuff in my cart. A small kid wanted something on a shelf just out of reach. I, not even five feet two, felt ever so tall when I retrieved the item for him. A man pushed his cart beside me. He would would have gone unnoticed, as he passed by, had he not looked me square in the face and said “good afternoon” with a smile. I almost missed it.

A perfect day? No, no, by no means, no. But, you know what? When I sit on the front porch, rocking in my rocking chair, my seasons almost done, these are the things I shall remember. The “by no means” will have long faded. And so I guess you could say, yes, it was … a perfect day.