Red Bench
I was at Costco sitting directly across from a fire-engine red bench connected to an off-white picnic style table.
I was sitting on one, too.
I was sitting, waiting while the tires on my Tahoe were being changed.
My mom just left after being in town for the weekend.
Yesterday, we made a stop at the mall. While we were sitting in the parking lot, waiting to park, I had to move my bladder so badly that I hopped out of the car and dashed to the Starbucks restroom.
My mom ran around to the driver’s seat and parked my Tahoe.
We met inside and she asked me about my Tahoe’s tires. She said it looked like they needed to be changed. It’s funny because I just thought to myself a few days earlier that I probably needed to get them changed.
The thing about me, though, is I won’t just go and get my tires changed. I really won’t. I don’t think it’s much fun to go and do things like change my tires on my own so I don’t.
When it comes to things like changing my tires, or paying my electric bill, or folding my laundry, or cleaning the burners on my stovetop, I just don’t.
I’d usually rather spend my time thinking about things, and reading, and writing, and running, and talking to people I meet, and doing things that are more fun.
It’s embarrassing sometimes because I don’t always end up doing much reading and writing and talking to people and all the things I say I like to do. Sometimes, I don’t get much done at all.
The red bench I was sitting on was quite hard. It was the least comfortable seat I’d sat on all day.
Costco wasn’t a bad place to sit and write, though. It was a decent place to sit and write, really.
It was a calm place to sit and write.
It was a nice place to sit and wait to get your tires changed.
There were lots of people buying $2 hot dogs and $1 slices of pizza and cheap ice cream sundaes and sitting and eating them and most of the people looked satisfied with their hot dogs and their slices of pizza and their ice cream.
It’s not a bad place to sit and write for a while and wait for your tires to be changed.
It was really a nice place to sit and write, except for that damn hard red bench.
Costco isn’t like the place where I started my day.
I started my day with a walk around Radnor Lake.
Radnor Lake isn’t such a bad place to start your day. It really isn’t. If you can get there early enough to find a parking spot, it isn’t such a bad place to start your day. Radnor Lake isn’t a bad place to start your Sunday morning, especially when the sun soaks your face and it’s at the time the fog burns off the water.
It's not a bad place to start a Sunday morning if you’ve got some time to spare and you want to see some squirrels cracking some acorns and some deer grazing the ground for some seeds and if you’re looking to say ‘hello’ to a few smiling strangers and if you don’t want to say ‘hello’ you don’t have to but I’ve found that most people do like to say ‘hello’, especially if you say it first.
And, Radnor Lake isn’t an altogether terrible place to start a Sunday morning if you want to take a few steps. And, then, if you want, you can take a few more. And, before you know it, you’ve gone pretty far and going pretty far on a Sunday morning isn’t a bad way to start a day.
Of course, there are other ways to spend a Sunday morning but Radnor Lake isn’t bad.
Of course, Costco isn’t the only place to sit and write but I think it’s nice.
And, I guess there are other ways to spend time than thinking about reading, and writing, and talking to people, and going on runs, and going for walks at Radnor Lake, and sitting at Costco waiting for your tires to be changed while you write.
Of course, there are.
And, possibly, you’re waiting for me to write something profound about that silly red bench. And, there are things I could write.
Of course, there are.
But, what I’d like to write is if there are things you like doing like reading, or writing, or talking to people, or going outside, or the mall with your mom, or dancing, or drawing, or singing a song, then you should do that.
Of course, you should get off the bench and you should do that.
