Maybe it's because my friend Robert pointed out that I can't take a compliment.
Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that I recently swung a golf club and was reminded of how much fun it is to drive that itty, bitty, pitted complexioned ball
He's on my mind.
Can't say his name (shouldn't), but I can give you a hint...
Golf Father, whom I worked for quite a long time ago, who gave odd compliments to me and who's sadly no longer with us, son is a "wildcat" who may in fact be the best golfer of
all time.
Got it?
My best worst job ever.
If you've read my blog over the years you may recall that I was a housekeeper.
Yep I was.
I was because I wanted to be and I wanted to be for about 900 weird reasons;
some of which were....
I liked to clean, still do. (yes, I'm nuts)
I liked to wear Levis to work.
I liked to be alone.
I liked to work hard and fast.
I liked to see immediate results and let me tell you there is nothing better then Windex for producing immediate resulation (pretend thats a word).
I was a housekeeper because it was strangely fun.
I don't know how come, but it was fun to clean houses, at least it was for me.
And I didn't just use my hands and my often aching muscles.
I used my mind. I daydreamed and I listened to over 1,000 audio books, all borrowed from the local library.
Everything from Shakespeare to James Michner to Anne Rice.
I felt productive, made myself good and tired. It allowed me to attend college full time, provided flexibility, fueled me with cold, hard cash, funded my addiction to fashion and afforded me the more then occasional trip to Cancun and other exotic locations.
I remember when I worked for him, lets call him Earl;
It was his hay-day.
Books coming out, people clambering for his attention, interviews in the paper, appearances on Oprah and then there was good old me, folding his underwear.
He lived alone, but thats a secret, don't tell anyone.
He was quite clever, so much so that he could get away with stupidity.
He hated cucumber and once threw one at my head to illustrate his point. Cucumbers bounce, FYI.
He was temperamental at times.
Had a wicked sense of humor.
His laugh was infectious.
I found him unpredictable.
He liked jam on his fried eggs.
He loved frozen Snickers.
He put me in the middle of his quarrels.
I hate being in the middle.
Once he gave me a thousand dollars and told me to go buy him some plates.
I found that task daunting.
I came back with an entire kitchen; forks, knives, bowls, pans, plates and even a refrigerator's worth of food, including plenty of fresh vegetables and one flying cucumber.
I'm afraid he seemed lonely.
He loved to talk to me.
Sometimes I listened, sometimes I hid from him.
Sometimes he offended me.
He called me Whitey and Cinderella and BabyGirl and _itch.
He often asked me to live there with him and told me I was his best friend.
I think maybe at times I was.
Sometimes I got bored in the house because he rarely left his reclining chair and made little to no mess.
Once, while hiding at the back of the house, I made myself extra useful and alphabetized his _orn collection, (rhymes with "horn collection")
Yep I did.
Alphabetization produced one of those infectious laughs of his, once discovered and yet we never spoke of it. We wouldn't need to, you see?
Thats how we were.
It was long ago.
It was a hard job in so many ways for me.
I loved/hated it and him,
but most days, I loved the whole disastrous position I found myself in.
I wanted that job to last forever.
The pay was good.
I had a comfort zone,
though the company most definitely had its ups and downs.
There was always something for me to giggle about when I drove home after work.
His celebrity made him inexplicably intriguing for me.
His sexism toward me made my skin crawl, but I could handle that, some of the time.
I remember the day I quit.
Had something to do with him needing to keep the heat in the house very high, even in the hotness of summer. I never complained, sweat pouring down my back, dripping off the tip of my nose... and then one day this suggestion, "if it's too hot for you in here, why don't you take your top off?"
Goodbye.
I never missed him.
But - today I did.
See?
Time is powerful, it changes things.
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