bicycle tricycle

yesterday i worked all day with rita. rita is at least 75 or 80 years old. she’s been selling pantyhose for 23 years. everyone knows her. they all come in and ask for rita. if rita is busy, they’ll wait for her–even if they don’t need any help. rita opens more credit accounts than anyone in the store. working in the legwear department, that’s quite an achievement. the other day she opened eight of them. my goal for the month of may (set by my manager) was two. i didn’t meet that goal. yesterday employees received between one and twenty dollars for each credit account they opened (amount at random). rita “won” two dollars. she gave it to me and insisted that i buy yogurt or a soda pop after work. later that afternoon she came back from her lunch break with a rice krispie bar. she apologized; there hadn’t been any blueberry muffins left, but would i like a rice krispie bar? because they’re delicious! and–did i know how to make them? and–of course i must because i’m excellent in the kitchen. and–i must get good marks. do i get good marks? the best marks? she continued to praise me all afternoon. she always smiles. she loves me. loves me like a grandmother loves a granddaughter. rita’s divorced. she lives by herself. she wakes up in the middle of the night and drinks tea because she can’t go back to sleep. this weekend she lost her voice. she needs rest. she needs someone to take care of her. on friday–with tears in my eyes, i’m sure–i’ll promise to visit her…and i will. i’ll bring her cookies and let her know she means something to me.
tonight i was talking to matt henry and i began to cry. i can’t explain why or how certain people have touched me. there just seem to be these people in my life that can get at parts of me that most people can’t–parts of me that could use a bit of exercise, in a sense. sometimes that’s overwhelming. sometimes i can’t contain those emotions and i fall apart. sometimes i get scared and i hide. but sometimes i can just swim in it. i want to swim in it. i want to dance on the rooftops.
thanks to a few of my teachers, i’ve learned some important lessons this year. i’m trying to thank them in a way that they’ll appreciate, but so far i haven’t had any luck. the rest of tonight will be spent trying to find a way to do that.
the paragraphs keep getting shorter.
goodnight.