if life gives you popcorn ...

Small town Americana sometimes can simply restore your faith in people and what we all are capable of.

Ridiculously hot for a week now, I talked Patti into trying a short outdoor outing to Carlisle’s First Friday, “Hollywood on High Street” to break the monotony of hopping from air conditioning to air conditioning.

While I have no idea what it had to do with Hollywood, George's Pizza and Subs was our first encounter and a godsend serving up free snowballs. More so was the woman serving them. Addressing Patti, “Dearie, I spent almost two years of my life in a wheelchair you do not want one of these paper cones, let me get you a cup and a spoon.” After whipping up a custom snow cone she hands the cup and spoon to Patti. Then with an after thought, places a pile of napkins in her lap, “here have a bunch of these, have fun make a mess!” … They just do not make people like this anymore anywhere!

M&T Bank was showcasing "A League of Their Own" where Patti won a bag of kettle corn in a baseball toss game the ladies of M&T Bank rigged not only for  outcome but genuine shared enjoyment. Bottom line any able bodied person steps out of their comfort zone to engage in physical fun with someone who cannot really see nor has much physical coordination. These were bankers not therapists. Above all they were just good neighborly people.

While there was soooo much more we could have done, 20 minutes in 92°F heat was taking a toll on Patti. Rolling into our Multiple Sclerosis friendly air conditioned wheelchair accessible van, we headed home for more air conditioning and a dinner of grilled chicken breast and kettle corn.

While I doubt you will find that in any cook book, Patti was not to be deterred from her winnings. If life gives you popcorn … serve it as a vegetable. :)

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

web site: http://caregivinglyyours.com/

videos: http://www.youtube.com/daddyleer 

musings: patrick ponders