Lunch Hour

I took a walk during my lunch hour today. This was the first day I have been able to breathe without feeling like my lungs were exploding after being sick for a week, so I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day. I grabbed ten bucks from petty cash in case I saw the CD that I want to put in a little care package to my stepmom Sonjah, and set out.

I was immediately caught off guard by the 103-degree weather that wrapped around me like a big ol' invisible blanket. I knew it was supposed to be hot out today, but YEESH! I quickly abandoned the idea that I was going to go with the purpose of getting exercise, and instead decided to take my time and leisurely stroll. Since I am cursed with having sweat glands like my father's, I wasn't too hip on the idea of returning to the office an hour later looking like I'd been hanging out in a car wash.

I stopped and browsed a while in a cute little gift shop and picked up a few cards for my friends. Sonjah had mentioned that sometimes when she's out doing errands, she'll think of something about Dad and want to jot it down, but that she can never find a piece of scrap paper. The gift shop had cute little pocket-sized journals with plastic covers and little flower clasps, so I bought one for her. I could have spent gobs of money in there, but hey, ten bucks only goes so far (thank goodness for massive grand-opening sales!). I finally made myself leave and headed over to the Virgin Megastore to see if I could find the CD. Luckily, they had it! I won't tell you how ridiculously cheap it was, but you can figure it out when you realize that: (A) I only had six bucks left, and (B) it's "ABBA Gold", baby, so that's enough said right there. I'm not really sure if Sonjah likes ABBA, but when she was here visiting and we were doing our "Girls' Day" on Friday, we heard ABBA on the radio about three times, which was just way too weird, and I was teasing her about those songs probably being her "jams" when she was in high school. We all need to have one or two embarrassing CD's in our collection that we can put in some days and sing along to while we dance around in our living rooms. That's what I'm hoping the CD will be for Sonjah, and I think ABBA definitely fits that category. If I'd had more money, there is a strong possibility that I may have even bought it for myself. It goes along with my need to have CDs to recall certain memories/people. Guess I'll have to go back.

I moseyed up and down the 16th Street Mall with my treasures, buoyed by the feeling of thinking of others instead of myself, which I seem to have been doing lately. The heat rising up off the sidewalk was dissipated by the blasts of icy cold air coming out of the store fronts as I passed.
As I made my way
past the Hard Rock Café
Seven Mary Three
was looking for me.
They've always got music blasting from the Hard Rock, but it was nice today to hear 7M3's particular poetry of "Cumbersome" riding out on the heat wave to greet me. I certainly never have to be reminded of why they continue to be my favorite band. I passed a lady who had a clear cup of lemonade from Corner Bakery that I suddenly had to have, so I managed to scrounge up the very last oodles of change from my purse and get one. It was totally worth every penny, and I sipped happily as I thought back to the summers when my sister and I set up endless lemonade and Kool-aid stands as kids, throwing in the occasional homemade cookies or Rice Crispy treats to sweeten the deal. Nevermind the fact that after our parents helped us make everything and haul it out to the curb, they were usually the only ones that bought anything from us...

As I reached the last couple blocks before my building and thought about being a kid, I suddenly saw a field trip of about 70 pre-schoolers making their way up the sidewalk across from me. The front part of the group got to the corner first, so when the light turned, the kids started making their way across the street to the corner I was standing on. Impatient drivers had pulled out into the intersection and I could see them fuming inside of their cars, irritated that gaggles of kids were making it impossible for them to turn. Personally, I thought it was funny. They all had their little backpacks on, some singing, some skipping - all having gobs of fun. The teachers they were with had to break the kids up into four groups just to get them all across. One cute little boy with a brown mass of floppy curls asked me if he could have a drink of my lemonade as he went by, and I was half-tempted to let him until I remembered, "Oh, wait, that would be weird." I just said, "Sorry, buddy, you'll have to ask your teacher to get you something to drink," which he promptly did and I'm sure his teacher loved. I forget sometimes that kids take things so literally. I crossed the street and glanced back as they all had begun a game of avoiding stepping on the sidewalk cracks. I wanted to yell out, "I'm so jealous of you all!!" and beg them to take me along on their adventure.

That one little lunch hour today was one of those times when I truly felt lucky to be breathing. Walking. Absorbing life around me. I know I'm lucky to be alive, as are we all, but to actually feel it is an awesome, and sometimes rare, thing.

Long live summer, music, lemonade, and sweet little kids hopping along the sidewalk.