Today I went to Diabetes class at the university hospital. It was a welcome distraction from work... but being over 3 hours long itself I soon found I needed a distraction from the distraction, and that distraction came in the form of former Saskatoon mayor Cliff Wright.
I walked in at 12:59 - Perfect timing. I scanned the crowd. I was the youngest. In most cases I was the youngest by far. I sighed over the sad state of my older-than-it's-days pancreas and I walked into the room. As I searched for a place to sit I made a mental correlation between the age of an individual and the 'settled-in' look of their immediate surroundings. I got the impression that perfect timing for most of these old folks was 45 minutes ago. I decided to sit next to Cliff Wright and his wife. To be honest it just seemed like the best place for me. I could tell the other people in the room were jealous, but let's face it - I have a blog named after me, and he has a library. Obviously we share a certain social standing. The meeting was already running behind and it hadn't even started yet. In the down time Mrs. Wright and I chatted it up while Cliff, (I call him Cliff), gathered his courage up to talk to me. It wasn't until the break that he opened his mouth. He waited until I looked at him, then he leaned over to me, took off his glasses, and opened and closed his mouth a few times. It was as if he was preparing to make a great point. After all, he is a recipient of the Order of Canada, so I have no doubt whatever he says to me would require at least a little limbering of the face. I unconsciously stretched my own face a bit as I gathered my wits about me (in case whatever he said required I say something smart back). Then he spoke, and I was not disappointed:
"As it turns out... we have always *eaten* well. Where I go wrong is in my indulgences. I have a weakness, " he paused for a moment and looked around, the looked back at me and said proudly, "... for rootbeer."
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