Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Signs of Senility

I’m beginning to see disturbing signs of creeping senility in myself. Lately this has taken the form of oblivion to the obvious. For instance, on the plane flight from Burkina to Canada, I had to make use of a little, on-board closet they have the nerve to call a toilet. Those of you that have flown on planes know what I’m talking about: those little stalls in which there’s hardly room to turn around. And if you drop anything on the floor in there, you might as well forget it because you don’t have enough room to bend over to pick it back up!

But this time, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I walked into a restroom that was the most spacious one I had ever seen! There was room for three or even four people in there! I was really impressed. So when I went back to my seat, I said to Kathy, “Wow, this plane has a really nice and roomy bathroom! You should go and try it!”

“Where?” she asked, turning around to look. I pointed to the restroom door. “Oh,” she replied. “You mean the one with the handicap sign on it?”

Yesterday we were walking back to our son’s apartment building. He wasn’t there, but he’d given us keys to get into the building and his apartment. Normally, when we arrive by car, we go in the back door. But this time, since we were walking, I wondered about using the front door. “Does this key work on the front door too?” I asked Kathy. “I think so,” she replied.

Walking up to the front door, I tried the key. To my great disappointment, it didn’t work. Not quite believing what was happening, I tried it again. No way. In fact, the key wouldn’t even fit in the lock! “Sorry, dear,” I said. “You must be mistaken.”

“Really?” she queried. Without another word, she reached past me, grabbed the door handle, and pulled the door open! I’d tried to put the key into the door that opened into the entranceway, a door that is always open in apartment buildings since it gives access to the intercom that you then use to let building residents know you are there and want to see them. If they are expecting you or want to see you, they then push a button that unlocks another door further in.

My key worked in this second door just fine :)

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