sweet and sour

I was at the grocery store last night with M when I ran into a client from six or seven years ago. This single mom stood out - she had her Ph.d. in Literature and had been a professor at a college back east before suffering a mental breakdown. Over time she lost everything. I remember her and her daughter struggling to live in a shelter and cope with mom's issues. Mom had a particularily hard time (as I would have) because she simply could not get over the fact that she'd lost all control of her life.

I remember sitting outside with her and out of nowhere she said: It's the little things. I miss ice cubes. I should be able to have ice cubes whenever I want. Kitchens are locked in homeless shelters. It's just one of those things.

She was working behind the deli counter. It took me a minute to place her, and my practice is to never acknowledge a client in public unless they first acknowledge me. It saves them having to answer the how do you know that chick? It's not like we were at summer camp together. I am not often a memory folks want to have.

I am pretty sure she recognized me but she didn't make a move so neither did I. And it took a damn long while for the other woman to make two sandwiches. A damn long while.

And now for the sweet:





Metro and Madame Chick know funny. So it was no real surprise to hear that they were taking over the honor of memorializing the posts that make us laugh out loud all month long. MOTR and Izzy were the brainchildren of the whole affair, and this recent branching out just sweetens the mix.

So there was no way I was going to be able to resist NOT passing along Laurie's good love gone bad post. Sister, you outdid yourself with an audiovisual carnival ride of a post.

Hence, duh. The ROFL award. I may not be funny, but I damn well know funny when I see it.
Or hear it. Or both.

And come back here again tomorrow for our third Just Post Roundtable, yo.