The toughest thing about being retired, for me, is transitioning to a carefree life with little to do from my previous life of being an “overtime hog” with zero free time. That’s a challenge I am glad to accept!
Today I did have something on my uncluttered calendar. It had been there for about a year, since my last visit to my pulmonary doctor.
I got up a few hours early so I could say my morning prayers, read and take a relaxing shower before my 10:00 appointment about an hour from my house. Everything was on schedule, in fact, I was ahead of schedule. When I was ready to go, I realized that I didn’t have to leave for another half hour, so I read some more. I think there’s something in my nature that resists being more than 15 minutes early for anything.
When I started my journey, I typed the destination into my GPS. I knew how to get there, but I wanted to be sure I would be on time. You know how doctors are, they can keep you waiting, but you can not keep them waiting. Even with my extra reading the Genie in my cell phone told me I would arrive at my destination 20 minutes early.
I was met with a traffic delay about two miles from my house, no problem, my Genie knew an alternate route and I proceeded to it. Shortly after I committed to the new route traffic stopped, for no apparent reason. A quick glance at my phone assured me I was still on a schedule to arrive about 19 minutes early- Is it possible I had been exceeding the speed limit? The backup lasted for a while and when I started moving again, I had lost 15 of those 19 minutes. The route was mostly highway driving and I was hoping I could make some of the lost time up. I don’t like to be really early, but I hate being late.
I was on a six-lane highway when the traffic cleared, but I was behind three cars that were pacing each other, barely going the speed limit. REALLY! I screamed (quietly) so I wouldn’t disturb the slow drivers ahead and possibly cause them to go slower. As we all know, it is impossible to make up time unless you go faster than the posted speed! Finally, the guy in the right lane, oddly enough, broke the blockade and I was able to slightly push the limits of police courtesy.
I arrived at the hospital exactly 9 minutes early, but it was a gigantic facility, and I wasn’t sure where my doctor’s office was. With time and the location of the office on my mind I entered the hospital. There was a larger woman with an angry scowl sitting behind the reception desk. My first step into the building had not yet hit the ground when she screamed, “YOU MUST PUT ON A PROTECTIVE MASK BEFORE YOU MAY ENTER THIS FACILITY!” As I reached for the box of masks on the wall I replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought we were through with that stuff.” The reception area was an open-air design allowing people on the three floors above to look down at the entrance if they chose to. I had not noticed anyone looking down until she replied to my comment, which had been intended to lighten the mood. “THIS IS A MEDICAL FACILITY!! EVERYONE IS REQUIRED TO WEAR A MASK WHILE IN THIS FACILITY!!” Her voice, tone and demeanor reminded me of Sgt. Schultz in an old sitcom I used to watch, “Hogan’s Heroes.”- I kept that thought to myself.
As she was replying my sharp as a tack mind made two observations. The first, I surmised that my comment had failed to lighten the mood and, I suspected, it might have made it worse. My second observation was that people on the floors above definitely could observe the entrance area because now, no less than 25 people were leaning over the railing staring down at me.
The receptionist calmed down and reluctantly gave me directions to my doctor’s office.
I arrived at the suite as the clock struck 10, later than I wanted, but a small success considering. Everyone I dealt with from that point on was very pleasant and accommodating.
When I returned to my car, I arranged to meet a close friend at a nearby cigar shop owned by a radio personality. He was with a mutual friend, and we smoked a cigar and caught up on old times. Afterwords, we went to a tavern, and I enjoyed a couple of beers, a patty melt and some more conversation.
Yea, I guess retirement is pretty tough to beat, I think I might even be able to adapt to that carefree lifestyle!
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Thank you,
Phil
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your content seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem resolved soon. Many thanks
Thank you