The Man In The Ladies Room

One day while you are sitting on the therapist’s couch you might recount the tale of how you were the man in the ladies room.

You might describe how it happened the day you saw a specialist at Baylor Scott & White in Grapevine for a simple procedure.

Doc finished doing his thing and you flew out of there in need of the refuge of a local restroom.

Your urgent need meant you saw the restroom sign but didn’t register whether to go right or left and made a mistake. A mistake that didn’t register until you were ensconced in a stall and heard a cellphone go off.

A cellphone that was answered by the person next to you. Initially you were surprised because it was a woman’s voice and you had no idea how she could have confused the mens’ room from the ladies’.

But then it hit you, there were two stalls and no urinals. So you got yourself together in a hurry and flew out of there much to the surprise to the two men who were heading into the appropriate venue for their need.

One called out to you but you raced to the elevator and onwards to the car. Once you reached your automotive fortress of solitude you shook your head and laughed.

Oops.

Teaching Moments

Somewhere around February the young master saw me shaking my head and asked what I was listening to and I threw this on for him.

That led to a discussion about the band uses books and historical content for the songs they sing and how a song or two are typically included on whatever workout mix I am listening to.

“I like throwing Iron around with something that has energy.”

In turn he introduced me to the Attack on Titan suite above and we got involved in another discussion about the impact of a soundtrack upon a movie or show

A week or so ago I told him I had a new teaching moment for him.

“I cleaned out the internal and external vents for the dryer. The vent between the unit and the house needs to be replaced. It is not hard and I want you to do it with me.”

He asked if I thought it was going to be a five minute project. I said it might be slightly longer because there isn’t much space to work on the dryer.

“If you say it is going to take five minutes I know it will be far longer.”

I smiled and told him to blame his grandfather for my sense of five minutes. “Grandpa asked for five and you always knew it was going to be longer. It takes however long it takes.”

He was right, it took more than five minutes. Took a second trip to Home Depot to pick up the HVAC tape I forgot and a different clamp than the one that came with the kit.

It wasn’t difficult but after both of us had put in a full days work at our respective employers we were both cranky.

We snapped at each other and I laughed. “Grandpa would appreciate hearing you say it is never five minutes with me and then he’d tell me to be nicer to his grandson.”

“He’d be right.”

I laughed and said it is hard to have a father who can be a difficult about taking care of things at home.

“It is too bad my father didn’t leave me an empire and we could have a staff to do this.”

The younger Mr. Wilner snorted and said “you’d still want to me learn how to do this anyway.”

I smiled and nodded my head, “it is always good to know how to do things yourself. Sometimes you might prefer it that way.”

He didn’t hear the internal monologue inside my head in which I remembered working with my father and thought about how it was surreal to have moved from the son to father role.

I gazed off into space and sent my thoughts to my father wherever he may be now.

“Maybe you’re entirely gone or maybe your spirit still catches my words. Things seem to be at a place where I can make those changes I said I thought I would. Kind of scary but signs of a good thing too.”

Springsteen’s Interview

I listened to Howard Stern’s second interview with Bruce Springsteen and wished I could get time with Bruce.

I want to talk to him about writing, creativity and what he hears inside his head. I want to know if he hears the music and the lyrics and if not how it comes to him.

I want to ask what he thinks about the impact of life experiences and painful moments in regards to writing.

I want to be able to get specific on various questions I have about the process. It’s different for everyone but there are things we share.

I want to ask about Patty’s influence on his writing and whether has written 10,000 love letters or if it is something else.

There are things going on and changes coming because of those things, there are reasons to explore.

Moments to come that will something other than what is. Perhaps they cannot be planned or prepared for, only experienced.

And if that is the case they may one day yield fodder for fiction or some sort of writing. I feel a moment in time coming this way.