i usually post something for 9/11

and i was thinking about it today
but
i didn't have any new concepts
nothing brilliant came to me

but
my thoughts were more
just what happened to me that day

don't get me wrong
i'm not saying it wouldn't have been
more high minded to thing about the people
who were injured or killed
or
the brave rescuers

i just didn't spend a lot of time on that
for whatever reason

the thing that kept coming back to me
was my district manager
what was her name
kim
calling the store
saying
send everyone home
everyone needs to be with their family right now
it was a company directive

yeah, ok, i said
but we're supposed to get a truck
i need to stay and receive that
can i just get a volunteer to stay with me for that

no, she said
you have to go too

but
that's going to cause a lot of problems for the delivery guy
and i don't have a family to go home to
why not just make things easy
i don't mind
i'll even stay alone if that's ok

no
you have to go
we are closing all stores
and sending everyone home to be with their families
this is not optional

ok, i said

and casey
this really weird guy who worked for me
and i
walked over to auntie pastos italian restaurant
http://www.auntiesbellaire.com/
about a block and a half away
and had italian food
i don't remember what we ate
but we talked and ate and had a good time, generally
he had a mother and a sister
but
i don't think he was living with either of them
and i don't think either of us wanted to go home


it was a cute little local bellaire restaurant
in the same center as the ones i go to with my mom sometimes
it's not really that good
and
it's a little expensive for what it is
but
ya know
it's got local color

it was just about the only
non-surreal moment of that day