As the week comes to a close, I have absolutely nothing else to report on my condition ...
Which, perhaps, is a godsend, because I have been through a lot.
Too much, if you ask me.
I drove for the first time in more than a week yesterday, because I had to go to my allergy doctor for my monthly shots.
It was good getting into the car, but I am far from 100 percent, and probably won't be until I get the eye operation and go through the post-op situation.
Look, I have been treated poorly by the medical establishment, and I know that I am not alone, based on what I have heard from others.
Why this happens--and why it has become endemic--is beyond my comprehension, but like I said, I am not going to pull a "Mangione" about it--
I am just going to put my faith in my latest doctor to do the job.
There really is nothing more than I can say about it, other than I hope I am heathy enough to go to my daughter's wedding at the end of October.
It would be a shame if I could not be there on her special day.
I have said all I am going to have to say about this situation, at least right now.
I want to move on to something else, something a bit sad, but having nothing to do with me.
A neighborhood presence passed away the other day, and I just want to make note of it.
Living in Massapequa for more than 50 years, there are people that you meet, people that you get to know, and people who are an enigma.
The person I am going to speak about was an enigma, somebody who I did not know personally, but he made his mark on Massapequa and everyone that has lived there over the past half century.
His name was Don. I did not know his last name, but I first encountered him in high school.
He was a senior, I was new to the area and a freshman, and I passed him in the hallway of Massapequa High School several times, and, well, I just found him to be a little ...
Weird, for the lack of a better expression.
We never spoke, never had a conversation, and yes, I know you cannot judge a book by its cover, but I did with this guy.
We went our separate ways--me going on to college, grad school, marriage (twice), kids, etc.--but Don went on to other things too.
He became a real neighborhood presence, as he became "the guy with the shopping cart," walking through Massapequa collecting cans and bottles to add to his cart, which he pushed from one end of the area to the other, no matter what the weather.
Was this guy homeless, was he disturbed, what was his situation?
I have no idea, no idea to this moment, but he was "the guy with the shopping cart" for literally decades.
I had heard many stories about him and his life during those decades, and I don't know if any of them were true or not, but there were a lot of stories about him and his plight.
My father even gave him a few dollars when he used to see him in fast food places in Massapequa, and on occasion, I would give him a bag of bottles and cans to redeem.
But he plowed on, pushing his shopping cart for decades ...
And while he was doing that, everyone in Massapequa knew of him, as "the guy with the shopping cart," who would push that cart during 100-degree days and zero-degree days too, through snow, rain, and yes, Hurricane Sandy.
One of his frequent stops was the record store I regularly go to, and he was quite the character, with everyone in the record store very fond of him and bewildered with him, at the very same time.
And he continued to push that cart all over town, day after day, year after year, decade after decade.
I had heard that he was not physically well the past few years, but you would still see him pushing that cart, and I still saw him regularly pushing that cart around Massapequa when my family and I moved to nearby Farmingdale.
He was an enigma. He was a presence. He was a neighborhood fixture in his own way.
The other day, through Facebook, I heard that he passed away. A wake was held in his honor, and if I was well, I would have been there.
So Don is gone.
There will be no more pushing of his cart in Massapequa, but perhaps he is pushing that cart in a better place now.
R.I.P. Don.
In a funny way, he made his mark in the world, and it all was because he was "the guy with the shopping cart."
He made his mark by pushing that cart, and it tells us that we all must keep on pushing, whether it is a shopping cart or simply through life, and its ups and downs and all arounds.
"Keep on Pushing."
Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again when I am up to it.
