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The Slice: The Slice: Neighbors help keep life in balance
Before her husband died, he was having trouble with balance. He fell often.
“Our neighbor Dan was called on to help pick him up over and over again. Within minutes he was at the door, any time of day or night.”
He also helped them with all sorts of household repairs, from plumbing to computer issues.
On his way out, Dan would say “Call me when you need me.”
Said Teri, “Those words meant everything to me.”
And here’s the thing. Dan and his family aren’t Teri’s only helpful neighbors. Several families keep an eye on her. If she needs something, they’re there.
“That is life in Spokane,” she said.
When strangers assume they know details of your life better than you do: Marian Ortiz thinks that might be a subject worth exploring. I’m inclined to agree.
Here are a couple of her own examples.
“Years ago, I was a young attorney attending a county bar association event in Dallas. An older (male) attorney asked me where I was from. I said, ‘Ohio.’ He replied, ‘You mean Iowa.’ ”
Uh, no. She meant what she said.
Here’s another. “I was recently in Cleveland, Ohio, visiting relatives. While in a pharmacy, a woman overheard me say I was from Spokane, Washington. She pronounced it ‘a horrible place – rains all the time.’ I politely suggested she might be thinking of Seattle, on the other side of the state. She waved a dismissive hand and said, ‘It’s the same thing.’ ”
On second thought, I’m not sure I ought to solicit stories about idiot know-it-alls. For some reason, they really tick me off. Which is a bit odd because I am a bit of an idiot know-it-all myself.
Two kinds of people: One can name the make, model and year of every car he or she has owned, and then there’s another kind that cannot.
Unlikely pairings: Corresponded earlier this week with an affable reader whose first college degree was in Russian history. The second degree was in landscape architecture.
Can you top that?
Today’s Slice question: Does anyone in Spokane drive around after dark to check out Halloween lights and decorations?
Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. A reminder for procrastinators: Next year is a leap year, so you might want to put things off until the extra day at the end of February.