Darswords

Well, today was fun and different. My honey and I got to go to the senior lunch in the little town of Summerlake. Town? Well, maybe smaller than a hamlet. It is only half an hour from our place, and it is beautiful. The ride itself is gorgeous.

Though this isn’t our bus. It is similar. We have a couple little busses like this to give rides to “town” an hour and a half to two hours from here for doctor appointments or grocery shopping. These busses are for seniors or the poor or disabled. Our town is small and comes under the county rule. There is a lot of political garbage that goes on that seems to imply that Christmas Valley is nothing but the red-headed stepchild (cliche –I love red hair and stepchildren are valuable people!) that shouldn’t have the significant needs we have.

Still, we do have the busses, and many of us enjoy the driver and her husband and consider them our friends. They help the people getting on and off the bus. That care goes far beyond driving. Once, they even helped us get a television when ours gave out. They help with food and clothes for those in need when they can. Good people, ya, know? On the bus, they get the conversation started on the long rides and keep us all light and comfortable.

My own disability makes the rides so painful I rarely go. The seats have such little padding that every bump is jarring. I know I am not the only one that finds the ride painful. By the way, on other trips, our driver tried everything she could to help me get comfortable. That touched my heart. I have brought pillows and blankets and my coccyx cushion. But the ride is so long that I just can’t get comfortable.  I prefer to drive our truck when we can afford to take it. It seems our driver’s side is the softer of the two seats. Even still, I have to take pain relief and play my music loud to get past the bad roads our county doesn’t find it necessary to fix.

Ah, but I stray from the point. Today’s ride was bearable partly because of the company on the bus. (And did I mention it was a short trip?) Our driver was fun and kept the conversation going. The lunch itself was exceptional. I am the only vegetarian, and the team that set up the lunch made sure there was food just for me. Wow! I was so touched!

We didn’t know most of the people at this lunch. But everyone was friendly and fun. At the end of the lunch, when we thought we were going to get up and ride home, a guy got up and made a loud whistle. That got our attention. What a fun speaker, this character with a long beard. The bin held the items of his stories.

Okay, don’t judge. From this angle, I can see how it sounds a little hokey. But we do live in the country so…  The bin contained furs. The vegetarian in me just shuddered. But it was more like the informative campfire talks we used to go to on our family camping vacations. I loved those. I learned a lot about nature’s fauna and flora from those talks. Our speaker made it a bit of a contest as to who’s fur is this. He’d hold up the coat and treated us like he did the school kids where he did the same talks. There were stories included to keep it going. He was delightful, and it made a fun day even better.

Because this restaurant was so close, my pain levels weren’t nearly as high. It helped to get out and enjoy our beautiful scenery and camaraderie.

And when we got back, I got to go to my favorite place in town, the library. I renewed my card and turned in my knitted donations and yarn cakes. That was the icing on my day. I couldn’t say cake because they were yarn, you see?