New feeling in an old land

Wednesday afternoon I drove around town on errands.

• I dropped off a form for mom's doctor to fill out. Hopefully he is right person so mom can finally order a power wheelchair. Earlier the wheelchair store told me wrong, else I didn't understand, as I tried to have mom's physical therapist fill the form out. That would make sense. But.. the therapist is suppose to give her report to the doctor who then fills the form out. *sigh* Prescriptions, doctors, physical therapists, home evaluations, etc. Government paperwork as Medicare picks up the cost.
• The second place I visited closed 5 minutes before I arrived. *argh!*
• I went to Menards to check on parts for the bathroom,
• Finally Wal-mart to get miscellaneous items.

As I did the errands I drove my brother's old Ford pickup on the highway bypass SE of town. 55 mph. 4 lane divided highway. The sun was still high in the western sky and was bright and warm. A Spring day with possibilities.

As I drove I had a feeling of "newness". Strange, as this was a familiar place. By a "new" feeling, I mean a feeling I have gotten when I have moved to a new town, or else visited a new city for a period of time. Things seem new, fresh, interesting, alive. One notices things instead of being lost in thought as the familiar passes by. But this is Minot - my hometown. How could I have a "new" feeling in my old hometown? Sure, I don't often visit the SE part of town, but I still shouldn't have this feeling of "newness". Maybe I felt this way because it was a nice Spring day.

Anyway, no big deal, I rather like the "newness" feeling. With this feeling there is the promise of tomorrow and of new things. To me it is a pleasurable feeling, a happy feeling.

As I drove I listened to an oldies radio station on AM radio. Familiar songs from the 1960s I hadn't heard in a long while on a radio whose call letters (KRRZ) I remember from my time in Minot decades ago, but whose radio announcers were unfamiliar (naturally). Familiar though was the inane upbeat happy talk with lame humor these radio programs practice. All in all... another mixture of old and familiar with the new.

At Wal-mart I met Takeesha. Or I should say, she came over to say "Hi" to me as I was engrossed with comparing different brands and styles of absorbing pads. Takeesha is a CNA aide at Manor Care. I hadn't seen her since January when she left to complete National Guard training in South Dakota. Takeesha was at Walmart with her 2 year old son. He insisted on holding a small broom instead of letting it lay in the shopping cart.

Takeesha's husband is in the Air Force and recently left for a 1 year assignment in Korea. Being in the military she is not a Minot native and her circle of friends isn't large. Originally from the South she has no family close by. My friend Mark - in the Navy - and I recently communicated about how hard it is on young women when their husbands are on a long tour of duty overseas. With no family or close friends nearby these women get lonely and bored, especially when they have an infant or small child that must care for.

Takeesha is an attractive woman and she was asking about activities I did in Minot. Fortunately her interests are different than mine. She is not into hiking but likes to gamble at the casinos. So I was able to gracefully be non-committal. I felt sympathy for her as it is hard to be far from home in a strange place. Minot is fine, but it is not an exciting place with many activities, and living here is hard on a young person without many friends. Now if she wasn't married I would have made an effort to find out if we had some common interests.