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Aug 31, 2004 Story #1. My daughter and I went shopping and it was the first time I had gotten to use my handicap tag to hang on the rear view mirror. We had my grandson with us who was about 6 mo. old. While we were shopping it began to rain. By the time we left the store there were giant puddles everywhere. My daughter hurried to the car with the baby, and I gingerly hopped over puddles and dodged cars to get to where we had parked. I noticed a man stop by my daughter and ask her if she was handicapped. She said no, but her mother was. As he turned to look at me I was hopping over another puddle. I was so embarrassed I said, “I really am handicapped but it doesn’t show. It’s a mental thing!” Story #2. My husband and I took our grandson to Chinquategue to see the ponies. Shortly after arriving there I needed to use a restroom. Unfortunately the only available toilets were porta-potties along the beach. We parked the car in front of one and I went in. As luck would have it, the latch on the inside was broken, but it was too late to go to a different one, so I made the best of a bad situation. Suddenly, the wind caught the door and it blew wide open! I, of course, was indisposed. Also, the door was too far away to reach for it from a sitting position, so I just sat there for all the world to watch! The worst part of it was that my husband and grandson were sitting in the car watching this whole “Kodak Moment” unfold, and all they could do was point at me and laugh! Bet you can’t guess what the highlight of our trip was for our grandson! Story #3. They say bad news travels fast. As with most sayings, I can attest to the fact this particular one is not always true. I had gone through a divorce which was not well known among my relatives. Divorce was not something that happened in our family and my parents preferred to keep it hush-hush. This turned out to be a big mistake, even though I went along with it at the time. A cousin of mine use to pass through the little town in which I lived and would stop in just to say “Hi”. These visits would happen every now and then, unannounced, but always welcome. One morning as he was passing by he decided to drop in. He rang the doorbell and a boy about 10 years old came to the door. My cousin asked if I was there and the boy told him his mom was not up yet. The boy invited my cousin into the house while he went to get someone up. Suddenly, my X-husband showed up in the living room. My cousin said he had just dropped by to see me. My X told him I no longer lived there. He told him that we were divorced and I had moved with the children. He went on to explain that he had remarried and the boy that answered the door was his new wife’s son. This news was, indeed, quite astonishing to my cousin. No one had mentioned it to him and it had been about a year since I had remarried and moved away. My cousin checked around and got my phone number and called me. During that conversation I explained to him my reasons for not mentioning the divorce. We had a really good laugh about his impromptu visit to my old house. As we were ending our phone conversation, my cousin said to me, “By the way, Sis, when you are up this way, come on by my house for a visit!”. Story #4. After months of searching for a job, I finally landed the perfect position as secretary with a civil engineering firm. This was exactly the kind of career I had prior to moving from the north to the south. It was a much smaller firm, but it was ideal! Shortly after beginning my new job, the receptionist came down with the flu and I was asked to fill in at the front desk for a few days. This was not something I did well. I had a tendency to be shy, to be at a loss for words when it came to strangers, and generally would become flustered. But, I gave it the old college try until….. One afternoon a gentleman came into the office, approached my desk and asked if one of our engineers was in. I told him he was and I proceeded to ring the engineer’s office to tell him a gentleman was there to see him. He asked me who the gentleman was with. I responded cheerfully, “He’s by himself.” Did you ever want to grab the words in mid-air before they reached anyone’s ears? ------------ About the author: Donna Gray is a New Englander by birth, born and raised in Weymouth, MA where she graduated high school. She then attended college in Boston, MA. She transplanted to Virginia Beach the late ‘70‘s. Donna is married with children and grandchildren and has been retired from the business world for four years. She is also a lung cancer survivor which led her on a mission to pursue a writing career. During her school years, Donna spent time in class gazing out the window and was often scolded for being a daydreamer. In reality, she was thinking poetry, although some called it wool gathering. And at home, she would rather write poetry than do her homework. An avid writer since childhood, Donna never shared her poems with anyone. It wasn’t until she moved to Virginia that she began entering her poetry in contests and having several poems published in anthologies. She has also won awards in various contests. In addition to her poetry, Donna has written a journal of her battle with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome), a complication resulting from her lung surgery. The journal was inspired through her participation in research programs being conducted by two universities. This account has been published on a web site devoted to educating family, friends and survivors of this serious condition of which less than 50% survive. Donna has recently expanded her writing to include children’s stories and draws on her experience as a mother and a grandmother which has provided an endless supply of antidotes. In addition, Donna is a member of an on-line writer’s group and has had several articles with a humorous theme published on-line along with several of her poems. Donna’s hobbies include horseback riding, swimming and painting in acrylics. Her love of horses runs a close second to her love of writing. Email: DgrayL@peoplepc.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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