Eating with Ambulances

 I had freshly washed clothes hanging on  my rack drying in my living-space, and dishes waiting to be washed on the bench in my kitchen this morning, so it was a perfect time to go out for a sit-down cup of coffee.  My addiction to coffee is manageable in the long-term if I don't keep any at home, and have it only as my going-out treat. So out I went. 

Well ... it had to be more fun than washing dishes!

I chose a quiet cafe in the depths of suburbia surrounded by quaint old houses not unlike the one I live in. I pulled up, parking the Rolling Box between two ambulances. Hmmm, I thought, but the ambulances were just sitting there silently. And there were four paramedics sitting around an outside table, having an early lunch. What a great place to come, I thought to myself. If I'm going to have an accident or some kind of medical incident, now's the perfect time!

Instead, I had coffee. I love sitting in cafes by myself. It's not social, although I have been known to enjoy the company of a companion in the past. I sit alone with my coffee, watching, listening, sipping and smiling. Or I sit there with my phone, playing silly little games. Or I sit there with my laptop, writing. Today there wasn't a lot of charge on my phone, and the laptop was at home, waiting for me to return. I also didn't feel much like pulling out a Tarot deck. So I sat and people-watched, one of my pleasures.

Sometimes people-watching is gold. You'll hear just a single line clearly out of a whole conversation, and it will inspire a poem or a short story. Or you'll listen to two people chatting and the chat will be friendly and unremarkable, but both of them will be terribly tense and hypervigilant. That, too, will be story-worthy.

But not today. Today, it was all about the oddity of parking my van between two larger vans equipped with sirens, and four paramedics being much more relaxed than you'd ever see them on the job. And no, I didn't have a stroke or a heart attack while I was surrounded by trained and capable people. Not quite sure whether I dodged a bullet, or whether the Fates are saving it up for a much more inconvenient time.

And this, folks, is why I live in the moment, and enjoy every day as it comes.