IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS

Most of you have heard the following old joke. But, it bears repeating.

Four senior women, residents of a nursing home, are seated around a card table playing Canasta when one of them, Charmaine, says to the elderly woman seated to her right, "Tell me Estelle, what is it that you could possibly like about Lester, your boyfriend?

He's old, skinny, ugly, smells bad and dresses like a thrift shop."

Estelle pauses for a minute and ponders her reply.

"Well", she begins, "it is true that he favors plaid shirts and striped trousers and he's definitely not as attractive as my late husband Morris, plus, I guess he could benefit from adding a few pounds and showering everyday."

"Well then", responds Eloise, one of the other members of the group - So, what's the attraction for you?"

Estelle pauses again before responding. "His greatest asset is - his greatest asset to me - is that he can drive at night."

Adelaide, the fourth member, an attractive and quite buxom lady immediately responded excitedly, "What's he doing tonight?"

You see, it's the little things.

So it is with the people with whom we are interacting every day.

We're staying in an apartment in the Penn Hills section of Pittsburgh.

It is the same apartment complex where my brothers and I, all residing out of town, moved our Mom long ago, with 24 hour companions and a family member, a nurse, looking in on her constantly.

Mom detested the thought of being placed in a nursing home and she was too sick to travel and stay with one of us. Plus, she didn't want to leave Pittsburgh. She was a Pittsburgh kind of girl who claimed not to mind the winters.

Stubborn little Irish women are like that sometimes.

It wasn't a big deal. She was our Mom. To us it was a little thing we could do that would allow Mom to pass time with dignity before her Parkinsons robbed her of her communication skills.

In previous blogs I've commented on how nice the people of Pittsburgh remain. No, not the idiots who are continuously shooting each other in Brushton, Homewood, Larimore, Beltzhoover and the Hill, just to mention a few locations.

Those folks remain just a small divisive part of what people in Pittsburgh are all about. Pittsburgh is like any other big city in that regard.

The ones I'm favorably referencing are the ones, black or white or tan, old and young, who hold doors for you and apologize if they didn't see you coming and they failed to grab that door.

It's the big burly guy working on his car who ducks his head out from under the hood to ask, "How's you day going? - even if you're a perfect stranger.

They are also the folks who are the first among many who are bringing over home cooked food when there has been an illness or tragedy in a family. You may have seen them cutting grass and landscaping yards for their elderly or infirm neighbors if you were passing through town.

Have a relative with Alzheimers? They'll come and spell you for a while.

Penn Hills is an old community that outgrew it's road system consisting of a lot of two lane roads and multiple intersections where taking your turn - and waving people out of the many business parking lots on Rodi road is the expected - not the exception.

It is the one thing different we have noticed since arriving from our residence in Florida. Unfortunately, the latter is filled with disenchanted and sometimes bitter seniors.

We also have snowbirds at least half the year who come from places that definitely are not Pittsburgh.

Don't get me wrong. Many of them are probably thought of as good people back in their home towns. However, their expectations as to what they deserve and contribute upon arriving in our little community of Bradenton are often misplaced.

Restaurant servers, who are also good people, are complaining constantly about their rudeness, their demanding ways, as well as their meager tips.

So, is taking turns in heavy traffic without benefit of traffic signs and starting up a conversation a big deal?

No, it's just one of the "little things" we like and admire about this great town and it's residents.