Thursday, 23 July 2009- Following Oshkosh, Forty Thank you’s and Forty Smiles.

Thursday, 23 July 2009- Following Oshkosh, Forty Thank you’s and Forty Smiles.
Today was great! After work I sat on a bus bench and enjoyed the warm sun. I also did some research on UA232.
At one point, on twitter, I typed, “I’m bored.” That evolved into “I’m lazy”, “I’m hungry”, “I’m tired”, and “I’m hot”. I finally got up and walked the two blocks to the library, which I was feeling too lazy to do earlier. I was also hungry, but I decided to postpone eating until I spent a couple hours at the library. I blamed my backwards priorities on the fact that I’m tired, and I was hot because I was wearing 3 layers of shirts.
At the library, I started following the #OSH09 twitter stream. People were already flying into Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the annual AirVenture, and setting up their tents under wing. I got a friend request on Facebook from the owner of MotoArt, how cool is that??!!
On my way to the shelter, I bought two bags of York Peppermint Patties. I couldn’t stop at the storage unit to get my new afghan for lack of time, but I will tomorrow. The wait in line was uneventful. I protected my peppermint patties from the sun and watch as the clouds gathered for rain. I prayed to the wx gods to delay the rain, but in the blink of an eye, it began pouring. The doors of the shelter opened and vacuumed us all in. I guess that’s a good thing, because wet (homeless?) people don’t smell pleasant.
I talked to an interesting lady who I thought was in her 70’s or 80’s. It turned out she was in her mid 50’s. My initial impression was that she had suffered from a stroke or seizures. I didn’t want to ask such a personal question. Her speech was seriously impaired. It was difficult to understand her. When she read my hat that says, “Virginia is for Flying Lovers”, and said “I’ve never been a pilot, but my father was…” she had my undivided attention. I had to make an effort not to be distracted by her involuntary muscle spasms and what I can only describe as reverse chin-ups: She stood with her back to the lockers, reached up over her head and grabbed the edge of the lockers and pulled herself up to her tippy toes like she was stretching her back. When she wasn’t holding herself up like that, she was like a marionette that was being operated by a child. She would bend over at her waist 2 or 3 times a minute and swing her arms and sway or touch the ground. About every third time, she let go of her purse handles when she bent over, and picked it up when she stood up. It made me dizzy at times just to watch Linda’s actions.
I have to be impressed that she can maintain her balance in these robotic poses. She said her dad had been a Brigadier General in the air Force and spent a lot of time at the Pentagon. I asked her if she knew when the Pentagon opened. She said, “Now that’s a piece of history I don’t know, but would like to find out.” I looked it up for her on my Blackberry. We were both surprised to learn that ground had been broken on Sept 11, 1941- 60 years to the day of 9-11. It opened in 1943.
Once inside the shelter, after the meal service was finished I went to (nearly) every lady there and offered a York Peppermint Patty. It made me happy to have my gesture so warmly and enthusiastically accepted. Most of the ladies were very gracious, some asked for a second one. I wish I had more!