People Are Strange ......

It looks like my interrupted sleep pattern will continue for a few more days at least. My daughter says that the baby will probably hold out until her due date - which is Tuesday the 7th. This gives me some time to get one more thing taken care of.
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Today is Saturday and I was looking forward to my routine. I stopped at ShopRite to pick up a few things - mostly cleaning stuff, it is Spring, after all. On the way in, I passed their Dunkin' Donut outlet and thought that I'd get my breakfast to go.

I bought what I needed, took it out to my car, and went back in for a medium iced tea and a bagel with cream cheese. There was a woman with her daughter at the counter placing an order. The young girl was wearing pajama pants which has been the style for a number of years. I think that pajama pants are cute when kids wear them; okay when women wear them; and totally unacceptable for men. (I don't even like to wear sweat pants outside.)

This kid, however, was also wearing a robe with a combination of colors that clashed dramatically with the pants. It looked to me that the mother had things to do and dragged her daughter out of the house before she could get changed. Strange.

I left and wound up at the Dunkin' Donut shop on Avenel where I ate my breakfast at one of the tables. I then drove towards the Menlo Park Mall. I stopped at the light by the Metro Park train station and noticed that the car next to me was rocking. I looked over and saw the driver shaking her hands and nodding her head, obviously to whatever music she was listening to. Now, I sing along with the radio, too, and I like to bang on the steering wheel to the beat but this was just strange.

When the light changed, she went right and I went straight ahead.

I spent a very pleasant hour or so at the Mall, reading the paper and doing the crossword puzzle and browsing through Barnes & Noble's. Now it was time to take care of that one more thing.

I drove up towards JFK Hospital.

My daughter is going to be here for the delivery and, since that's coming up, I wanted to sort of map out my way there. I like to know where things are and how to get to them.

Of course, I've been to JFK before. I spent a week here when I was first diagnosed, and I had to come back weekly for out-patient testing for several months afterwards. I already knew about the parking situation but I wanted to find out where the Maternity Ward was. It didn't take me long.

I stopped at a Hess Station on 35 and filled up. $2.03 a gallon.

It was coming up on noon and I was getting hungry. I stopped at the Pathmark in Avenel. As I walked in I remembered that there was a Subway's inside.

They have a special going on - any 12-inch sub for $6. That's not a bad price. I went in, and there was 1 woman waiting and a young man being served.

He was having a turkey and parmesan on herb bread. He added lettuce and onions. When it came to condiments, he asked for mustard and then oil-and-vinegar. Mustard and oil-and-vinegar? That's too strange for me.

I left, stopped at a local deli for Boar's Head Bologna and a kaiser roll, and went home. I got a good spot right out in front of my living room window.

As I sat there finishing my iced tea, I thought back on the morning. Some people might think that my checking out the hospital was strange but it's something I do. It's a part of who I am. That's when I realized that I'd misjudged some people today. That every one else has things that are a part of them.

The mustard and oil-and-vinegar combination is a part of who that young man is.

"Car dancing" is a part of who that woman in the car is.

I was beginning to think that wearing a robe outside instead of a coat is a part of who that young girl is. And that she was lucky to have a mother who didn't stifle her creativity.

We all do things that we like to do - that we consider normal, but that others might think of as strange. We're all different. Every one of us has a quirk, an idiosyncrasy. They are what makes us "us".

And that's OK.

Like Morrison sings ... "People Are Strange".