When it's good, it's still crazy!

Today was a super day! We showered, put on clean clothes, took our meds, hung out, all without incident. But even when it's good, it's still kind of surreal.

After getting the pop this afternoon, we went to Dollar Tree to pick up a couple of small items. It's a relatively safe store, as everything in it, as the name suggests, is only a dollar. So there really is no occasion for fit-throwing. Generally speaking, if there is something strongly desired in the dollar store, it's not going to break the bank.

But today, we weren't quite as interested in the items in the store as we were the people. There was one woman in particular who drew our attention quickly. She was dressed in what appeared to be Muslim attire, with the long flowing dress and head covering. So, try as I may, we still seemed to follow her around the store, all the while yelling, "Hey lady!", or "How ya' doing lady!", or "Are you my friend?" I think it's safe to say that Muslim women in general are not prone to engaging in conversation with men, especially strange men. Well, we were having none of that and were going to be persistent. When he finally said, "I like your dress lady," she smiled and acknowledged him as she quickly made her way out of the store.

"Whew," I thought, "that's over." But once again, I was wrong. There was a man who walked by who we were sure we knew. The man wasn't quite as convinced that he was our friend as we were, but we soon had him agreeing we were all buddies before he slipped out of the store without making a purchase. (I'd love to see him explaining to his wife why he didn't bring home the dishwashing detergent he was clearly shopping for...)

One thing I can say about working with these guys is that they help us announce our presence everywhere we go. As embarrassing as it can be trying to distract someone from following all of their "friends" around the store trying to engage them in conversation, it probably doesn't need to be said that days like today are so much better than days when we are throwing things at people.

It does look like it will be a couple of months before we get a third person. This means we are losing our day staff for that time period as well. So not having anybody around who has been around guarantees that there will be plenty to blog about in the coming weeks. And chances are good, it won't be about all the new friends we are making in the community!