Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
...He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather~~~I Dreamed a Dream; Les Miserables
On Monday, 24 January, I've just settled into my desk now having come back from lunch, to get cranking on some more 'editing' tasks. It is about 13:45PM, when the Fire Alarm goes off. And as it is sounding off, it is changing its cadence. Of course, I'm new to all this so I don't fully understand the cadence implications.
At this point, all I'm trying to do is get myself out of the building. And even as I'm grappling to get my coat and gloves on; its 10 degrees outside, the two Office Managers are already nicely encouraging me to get myself together and board my scooter. With us being on the third floor, everybody is going to use the stairwells to get out of the building. I'm looking to use the elevator. As we, like our grade-school counter-parts are trained to do, make our way to the egress areas, I have Dan & office-appointed fire-marshal Scott, staying close with me. Their concern speaks volumes; is above reproach. We get to the elevator and encounter one hell of a TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY. When the fire-alarm goes off, the elevator is programmed to go into AUTO-LOCK. What did we do!?!? Scott grabbed a nearby fire-ax, busted a window, and Dan & Scott hurled me, and my scooter~~~out, from the third-floor-window!!!
No!! No!! Just joking!!
Now keep in mind~~~the alarms are still whaling-away. We are on the third-floor of an older office building in downtown Buffalo, NY. In other words, there are huge distances between floors. Such distances that usually have these spread-out landings intermittent, to give added support to the stairwell area. Well this building was no different. What was I do?? I abandoned my scooter, grabbed my two-canes and with Scott, Dan, Tanya, and Sandy in tow, we started down the stairs.
Sandy needs help too, so Tanya was her aid. But they didn't 'run' ahead. We stayed together, making sure we all were alright. I thank God that at least I have gravity working in my favor as I'm declining all these stairs and navigating these two landings. Keep in mind~~~this is a fire alarm. We have no idea what we are up against. But we all stayed together. If we had 'smelled' the real thing, I would have to believe we would have went 'boy-scout' to get me out of the building.
So check this out!!!
This is how long it took me to get down the stairs; along with the lives of everybody else whom were with me---still on-the-line. As we stepped onto the first-floor from the stairway, two fire-fighters, from the fire-truck that had to weave through downtown Buffalo traffic to get to our building~~~were ALREADY INSIDE!!
We were told to stay-put by the fire-fighters; that everything was alright---no need to be standing out in the cold. Of course if there was a fire, one of the fire-fighters would have just tossed me over his air-tanked back, and got me out-of-harms-way because with no scooter, I would have had no way of getting to the safety-perimeter timely with my canes.
With the excitement over, and all-the-resets put back into place, the elevator was once again, working. Rob was good-natured enough to go up to the third-floor and retrieve my scooter for me.
So we all make our way back to our work-stations; back to our tedium.
At 1600 hours; 4PM for the uninitiated, the fire-alarm goes off again!!! This time, we have a contingency-plan. This time Tom, my fire-buddy, and myself with my scooter, use the turn-of-the-twentieth-century freight-elevator to get out of the building. This elevator does not have any of the bells & whistles that the passenger elevator does. It is hand-eye coordination to operate. The operator has to watch where to stop so the elevator matches the floor level!! Of course, Tom has done this a thousand times already, so this was old-hat for him. So with my scooter, I was able to migrate across the street with everyone else until we got the clearance to go back inside~~~to punch out!!! Truly, a Monday to remember!
On Tuesday I went to finish a bureaucratic task that was already almost two weeks in the making.I decided to do this because a few people have suggested to me that it would be a more practical and evident way of having my vehicle identified so that I could have more access to better parking and not have to worry about manually remembering to place my mirror handicap tag every time I egress my van.
I decided to get an actual handicap license plate. Keep in mind, this is the dead of winter, in Buffalo, NY. I figure all I had to do on Tuesday 18 January, was sign a form because I already have a valid HANDICAP MIRROR TAG. Not a prayer's chance, in hell. The DMV has a special form that the Doctor must fill out to document the handicap. The DENT CLINIC has gazillions of clients, so it is not likely that the form is going to get filled out---while I wait. So, I reloaded the scooter from the DMV, to go to the Dent Clinic~~~and drop the form off. By the way, my van thermometer, at 2 in the afternoon of this day, shows 10 degrees. With the wind swirling around the DENT CLINIC, it felt like -10 degrees.
The DENT operative assured me she would have it ready by Friday, the 21st. I go there on that date; no Denise, no form. GGGRRR.
Thank God, the form is filled out and in Saturday's mail. So Tuesday, 25 Jan, I head over to the NorthTown Plaza DMV, to get my Handicap Plates. I ended up with a nice DMV clerk!! I currently have these VANITY PLATES; DGNIFIED, so yes---there is a sentimental attachment to these. Without me making the suggestion, after the monetary transaction, the clerk asks me if I wanted to keep one of the plates as a souvenir??? Delightedly, I, of course, said yes!! As she is about to hand me my New Plates, she slips one of the DGNIFIED plates, in-between!! I felt, whole Again!!
Thursday, 27 January, 1991~~~a bitter-pill-anniversary. Twenty years ago, Thursday is the Anniversary of Super Bowl XXV, and the infamous "Wide-Right" moment. That is the ICONIC coined expression that sums up how the Giants outlasted the Buffalo Bills---to win Super Bowl XXV. Most everybody has their story, recalling that ignominious moment. And we have ours, too!!
As so many people do, we had a mini-Super Bowl party as well. The game is a nail-biter all the way through. Everybody is sitting at the edge of their seats. New York, employing its ball-control offense, had possession for 40 minutes, 33 seconds, a Super Bowl record. The Bills, who scored 95 points in their previous two playoff games leading to Super Bowl XXV, had the ball for less than eight minutes in the second half and just 19:27 for the game.
Fourteen of New York's 73 plays came on its initial drive of the third quarter, which covered 75 yards and consumed a Super Bowl-record 9:29 before running back Ottis Anderson ran one yard for a touchdown. Buffalo's Thurman Thomas ran 31 yards for a touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter to help Buffalo recapture the lead 19-17. Matt Bahr's 21-yard field goal gave the Giants a 20-19 lead.
By the time Kelly is navigating the Bills down-field,on an Elway-like-Drive with less than two minutes to go, nobody is sitting anymore. Everybody is up and standing like Nervous-Nellies. Then comes the moment. There are only seconds left; time to go for the field-goal, to win GAME, SET, and MATCH!!! The kick is to be executed by Scott Norwood, a very reliable field-goal kicker. It will be a 47 yard attempt. As the Bills are about to line up to effect the kick, the Giants call a time-out~~~to try to psyche-out Norwood.
It is during this time frame that I become afixed to my memorable-moment. To my left is my 9 year old son Andrew. He has no clue about the Bills, football, or anything to do with sports. But somehow, in that 9-year-old mind of his, which is always tempered with thoughts that has him thinking of concerns and apprehensions, he is pacing back and forth somehow knowing that this is a moment of epoch proportions for this Buffalo Community. He can't articulate this, but I know, he knows this.
Now, the play is about to unfold; both teams are at the line of scrimmage~~~when my Mother-in-Law quips...don't you just LOVE, close games?!?!?! GGGRRR!!!!
My most favorite play-off/championship type score was the Bills drubbing of the Los Angeles Raiders 51-3, the week previous---Sunday, January 20, 1991 at Rich Stadium.
Friday would be the 25th Anniversary of a most tragic moment in American History.
On January 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into flight, killing all seven crew members,including "Teacher in Space" Christa McAuliffe, on board. It was the first time NASA had lost astronauts during a spaceflight.
Few who were alive 25 years ago, will forget that day, nor the iconic footage and photographs of the pale, corkscrewing plumes in the clear blue morning sky where Challenger had just been. The failure of a pressure seal in one of the two solid-fuel rocket boosters was later identified as the cause of the shuttle's breakup.
It is the "Teacher-in-Space" component that adds to the tragedy. Manned space flights were getting so routine~~~nobody was watching them anymore. The reason why this was set to launch in prime-time, was so the kids across-America could be watching this live---from their classrooms because Christa was a teacher. Yes~~~the 'throttle-up' remark from Mission Control, and then---seven lives horribly taken.
I was between sales-calls, and in a Sears store getting some items for my Chrysler Cordoba(you know---the one with the Corinthian Leather!!). Those whom know me well, know that I'm a Manned Space Program aficionado, so I went to their TV sales area, to watch the launch. I couldn't believe~~~first of all---what I had just witnessed, live!!! I was like~~~OMG(before FACEBOOK made that a colloquial expression!!), with my eyebrows raised in disbelief. And secondly, I was miffed at Mission Control!! Instead of just calling it as it was; an explosion, a tragedy of monumental proportions---seven lives are on the line at this moment---we were hearing this technical mumbo-jumbo gibberish, instead. I mean~~~there was nothing left but this plume of smoke still ominously visible in the clear blue morning sky, and Mission Control is still talking about trajectory loss. Gee!! You think!?!?
I'm running errands on Friday, 28 January. In this weather situation, I am especially careful as I get in, out, and around the van and getting from van to house, or any other type of enclosure. So I get inside the house, and I let my 'guard' down. I'm making my way across the kitchen area to the kitchen table & chairs. Having just come in from outside, my cane rubber pads are still wet. I ended
up wiping out. I'll tell you what, it was the hardest fall I had taken in awhile. I suppose the heavy grocery bag w/handles, that I had in my one caned hand didn't help.
The fall shook me up, but given time, I shook it off~~~and started my manuscript~~~for this week's Web Log!!!
Find the energy to overcome, and win~~~everyday!!
--{-=@
Hickok
The Promise
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment