I came down to the front desk in a bouyant mood for reasons which will soon be revealed.
Me: Have you heard the good news?
MM. What good news?
Me: The most important good news. I do not need knee surgery!
MM: This is good news?
Me: Yes! So I can get on with my life. The cortisone shots take away the pain and I can get around.
MM. That is good news.
Me: Yes. What other good news could there be?.
MM: One cortisone shot that would last a lifetime.
Me: You are so wise! I am putting it on my blog!
Then I began laughing. When I laugh really hard I can faint which is OK when clinging onto the front counter but not when I walk down the hallway to the breakfast room.
Me: I can faint when I laugh hard. So you must say, Alexis have you finished laughing? If so now you can go!
MM: Alexis, have you finished laughing? If so now you can go!
Me: I guess so! I guess I have. I can laugh when I get to the breakfast room and sit down.
MM: Yes, Alexis you can do that.
Unfortunately getting on with my life entails getting an apartment and leaving this hotel which I utterly – well, except for the slow elevator. But nothing in life is perfect. Soon I shall be able to walk up and down the stairs if need be.
So things seem to be falling into place, on many levels. But falling apart in other areas but then, magically; relief appears on the horizon. Other things come into play, take their place in a more fulfilling way. PHEW!
At this point I went to get coffee and peered down the hallway. Who should appear but Next-Gen Racer and his mother? Faithful readers will know him, the four year old who can count to 600 who lives in Australia. I knew he was coming to the hotel but knowing and seeing is two different things. It was joy beyond belief, actually for the both of us. Despite the fact he had just arrived the night before from a long; long plane ride, he was full of energy and enthusiasm. Not only can he count to 600 but now he is into the alphabet. He took great delight writing names, his, mine, his grandfather’s, his Dad’s, his own first name and last name. Then he ‘borrowed’ my computer and typed the names of everyone, then BABY and ORANGE JUICE. He is a genius, I laughingly said to his parents:
Me: Your little boy is a genius!!! Are you sure you are his parents?
They: Thanks Alexis! You are funny!
Well OF COURSE they are his parents and they take so much loving time with him and that is WHY he is a genius. Of course he is smart to begin with but they have created an environment where he can thrive and grow fulsomely Here is the scoop on fulsome. “Although the earliest use of fulsome (first recorded in the 13th century) was ‘generous or abundant’, this meaning is now regarded by some people as wrong. The correct meaning today is held to be ‘excessively complimentary or flattering’. However, the word is still often used in its original sense of ‘abundant’, especially in sentences such as she was fulsome in her praise for the people who organized it, and this use can give rise to ambiguity: for one speaker, fulsome praise may be a genuine compliment, whereas for others it will be interpreted as an insult.”
Next-Gen Racer gave me an opportunity to use my Granny skills which have been dormant for a few years. I am an excellent Granny if I do say so myself and I just did! I support the parents and their discipline and gently discipline myself, if need be. When I say: Good Job! I mean it and children beam in delight. Indulgent grandparents do not get respect from anyone, not the kids, not the parents and they maim their grandchildren as good manners are essential for success. Good Granny skills came back to me – just like riding a bike (which may not come back to me because I have no desire to get on a bike.) Just as I have no desire to go back to Vancouver because it was an anathema to me. One HAS to love that word anathema: hateful, odious, repugnant, repellent, offensive; abhorrence, aversion, monstrosity, outrage, evil, disgrace, bane, bugbear, bête noire, pariah, abomination. Vancouver the abhorrence, the bane of my existence – why would I return to its shores? Well to get my nails done by Amy and my hair cut and blow dried by Vicky but that is about it. There is a concept known by me, said to a man who agreed: You have to close the door to certain people, places, things in order to open the door to new people, places and things.
I stayed in the lobby of this wonderful place, enjoying other people and coincidences. I spoke to a German woman about the folly of men – she was travelling with a man whose misery was making her miserable. We exchanged emails, saying we would communicate and she invited me to stay with her in Germany when I was in Europe. I was talking to myself in the presence of a man from Seattle whose first name amazingly turned out to be the first name of my first husband. I about fainted as it is a rare name.
But then this interchange took place. There is a television in the lobby with circulating tourist destinations flashing on the screen. One of the efficient Wyndam maintenance men had a suggestion.
He: You should get a touch screen so guests can choose different alternatives.
Me: I do not want to touch television screens, I just want to touch men.
General laughter ensued. But then, realizing what I had said attempted to retain some dignity.
Me: Oh my goodness, I was only kidding.
They: Oh no, you were not!! We know you!
If touch means hug they are right, I do have to admit. I am going to wrap this up as I am hungry and need to grab some lunch and do some chores. I need to start apartment hunting but perhaps not today.
The attached picture is the paper placemat with names printed by four year old Next-Gen Racer.
