Life meets Art

I just ran over to Jimmy Johns for lunch.

While I was eating, the kids working the counter had The Wall blaring over the speakers and a mom was having lunch with her maybe 3 year old son at the table next to me. The little boy was racing his Hot Wheels around the table and was aiming right for her giganto-sized soda that was precariously balanced by the table's edge when suddenly she shouted HEY! in unison with the song.

It was so startling that I almost tossed my sandwich up in the air. I managed to hold on but did get a lap full of lettuce. I really hope I don't get mayo stains on my favorite new shirt that I think is very flattering on me if I do say so myself!

*True confession: The little boy was not playing with Hot Wheels. I only wanted him to be playing with Hot Wheels. He had some sort of orange plastic train cargo car and that car with the face from the animated movie that was out a few years ago.

Can you tell ... A smile from a veil

Once every year or so, I find myself absolutely bawling to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. I'm not gonna lie, these episodes usually happen after red wine or whiskey. But they are pure bawling, longing for everything that has not worked out and every person who is gone. Tonight is one of those nights. My eyelashes hurt from the weight of tears.

I've had two memorable Wish You Were Here episodes in the past few years. One was in a Kalamazoo coffee shop. It was about 11 am (no wine or whiskey involved!) and the song hit me unexpectedly when I was thinking about getting a bagel. I had taken the train to see a friend's band, gotten up early the next day to see a Dale Chihuly exhibit and then stopped off with a magazine to wait for the train home. It was a wave of knock the feet out from beneath me loneliness.

The other time was a drunken whiskey night and when I posted on my regular message board, my DJ friend came on, read my post and told me "Step Away from the Floyd." Good advice on nights like this. Shine on you Crazy Diamonds, but step away from the wine and the Floyd.