Gone with the wind

Usually the only vehicles stopping in front of my house in the morning are the school bus with the wheelchair lift quickly follwed by the van service that picks up the night nurse who is still recovering from knee surgery.As I raised the shades in the front room this morning I saw a limo outside. This is not an everyday happening. I told the night nurse her ride came early.

 In the moment I stood there my next door neighbor came down the stairs. The limo driver jumped out to help him with his stuff.


Our next door neighbors are guys in their mid to late 20’s. They are professionals of some sort, but I don’t know what they do. There used to be three but one moved away to go to grad school so now it’s just two. They are nice enough fellows but we’re not close friends or anything. When they moved in a few years ago they were all just out of college and a couple of fraternity like parties got the relationship with neighbors off on the wrong foot. After one particularly raucous evening , they came over with a bottle of wine and an apology. That impressed me. There hasn’t been a raucous party in quite a while now, I think they have grown out of the “college boy” phase. They are polite but they keep their distance. It makes sense, I could easily be their mother.

It’s funny that they live in this neighborhood. It’s not exciting, it’s all families, middle aged like mine and now younger with small kids. Many kids their age live in the Marina or the Mission where there’s more happening. They’re smart, though. They rent a full sized house instead of a small apartment and they have a place for all their toys. There are a lot of toys. They have windsurfers, golf clubs, bicycles and any number of other things showing they are fully enjoying their lives.

As I watched,  the limo driver come up, grabbed the windsurfer case and tried to make it fit it in the trunk. I don't know where my neighbor is going, but he has a limo driver dealing with his windsurfer.  I thought to myself, "Man, these guys have it figured out."

Maybe Maggie and I should try windsurfing. I'm sure that's easily adaptable for wheelchairs and trachs. Ok, maybe not. I'd be happy to just go down the to the bay to watch the windsurfers.

I'll be outside waiting for my limo.