Getting out

I'm trying to take some of my earned vacation days one or two at a time so that I will stay under the maximum and continue to accrue them as long as I'm working. Today was another of those days. They come in really handy to do little chores around the house such as paint the recently repaired siding at the back of our house, compile some more expense figures for the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library tax report, prepare some W-9 information requests for the Friends, completely clean our and refill the backyard bird feeder, and repair and replace some of the Malibu lights along our front entrance. Little jobs that need to be done and can be done at leisure.

But often when I have a day like today, I feel a need to get out and meet people if only for a few minutes. My usual method is to lunch at Taco Bell. Our local Taco Bell gives a free small drink to seniors with regular food order so my lunch of a grilled stuffed beef burrito, enchirito, and drink comes to $3.75, a really decent price for a lunch. This Taco Bell is almost always busy so I can watch all sorts and ages of people or read a book I bring.

Sometimes I can talk with the interesting people. Like today when, standing in line to order, one of the directors at our local Eskaton senior center spied the book I was reading ("Why They DON'T Hate Us" by Mark Levine) and starting talking to me about it. After ordering our food, we sat down together to continue the conversation, although it was mostly one-sided. She told me more than I ever expected to know about senior care, her recent near-death experience, and the need to dialogue with the world. It made for an interesting break.