It's just an ordinary day.

*names and details changed to protect anonymity

(added hair courtesy of Parissa's ponytail.)

The more that I learn, the less that I know.
Never thought I would want to slow down.
Just focus on clouds in blue skies,
Above all the rain, the sun shines.
It's just an ordinary day. . .

I'm much to strange for this ordinary world. 
 

~ from the television show "Smallville" 

Short coiff = blasphemy or illness according to Grady elders

 _________________________________


In the Resident's Clinic yesterday:

Resident:  "Hey Dr. Manning. . . Mr. Purifoy is here and told me to make sure you saw him before he left. He was asking about you."

Me:  "Oh yay! Love Mr. Purifoy!"

Resident:  "Yeah, he's a pretty awesome guy.  He's in room 46, okay?"

Me:  "Gotcha. Thanks!"

Two minutes later in room 46

Me:  *knocking on door and peering head inside of the room* "Hey there Mr. Purifoy!

Grady elder:  "Hey sugar! I was jest askin' 'bout you!"

*gives me the hairy eyeball*

Me:  "What's wrong, Mr. P?"

Grady elder:  *sucks teeth* "You cut your hair some more?"

Me: *rubbing my head* "Uhhh, probably. I cut it every chance I get."

Grady elder: "But whhhyyyyy? Why you do that?"

Me:  *chuckling* "Awww, Mr. Purifoy! Why you busting on my hair today?"

Grady elder: *squinting eyes* "And it look like it got grey since I seent you last! You meant to do that? Cut it and grey it? Maybe tha's my cataracts actin' up!"

Me:  *cracking up laughing*

Grady elder:  *now looking serious* "I'm not laughing, Miss Manning. I'm for real. Why you keep on cutting off your hair, sugar? Why you do that?"

Me:  *taking zero offense considering this comes up often with me and the Grady elders* "Ha ha. . . . you never have been a fan of this short hair have you Mr. Purifoy?"

Grady elder: "I jest always think a lady look so niiiice when she got her hair long on her shoulders.. . .'specially when it look all silky.  I bet if you stopped cuttin' on yours it'd grow clear down your back."

Me:  *shudder*  "Eek."

Grady elder:  "Bet it sho' would."

Me: "Actually, Mr. P., I can assure you that this is true."

Grady elder:  "What?  Then yo' hair does grow? Then why you cut it all off? What would make you do such a thing, Miss Manning? What your mama say when she saw that?"

Me: *laughing still*  "I don't know what to answer first, Mr. P!"

Grady elder:  "Like what was the whole thang goin' through your head when you set down someplace and told somebody to cut all your hair off your head like that?"

Me:  "Uhhhh. . . .well, let's see. I was thinking, 'This might be real cute.'"

Grady elder:  *nose wrinkled*

Me:  "Dang, that's cold, Mr. P."

Grady elder:  "And you such a pretty little thang, too."

Me:  "Guess what, Mr. Purifoy? You won't believe this but my husband loves my hair short. I grew it to my chin after my last baby and he liked to have passed out when I cut it back off! He was so happy!"

Grady elder:  "Happy?"

Me:  "Happy."

Grady elder:  *snort*

Me:  *snort back*

Grady elder:  "What he said about them grey hairs popping up in front?"

Me:  "It was his idea for me to stop fighting it. We call it 'The Anderson Cooper Look'."

Grady elder: "The who?"

Me:  "Never mind. Hey! Your blood pressure and blood sugar look really good today! Your resident doctor just showed me your numbers."

Grady elder:  "Yeah, that new pill she gave me helped a lot."

Me:  "Good! Have you thought more about the cigarettes?"

Grady elder:  "Naaaaaw, don't even start either, hear?  Hey! You know that girl. . what her name. . . BE-yawn-say?"

Me:  "Beyonce? Do I know her? Uhh, no. Do I know OF her? Uhhh, yeah. She just had a baby, you know?"

Grady elder:  "A who? Oh, well my granddaughter say she take them hair weaves to make her hair so long like that. So you know, if you wont that kind of hair you can jest pay for it you know."

Me:  *laughing out loud*  "Now you're trying to get me a weave, Mr. Purifoy?"

Grady elder:  "It's jest that I don't know about all these pretty women with these little boy hair cuts." *shakes head*  "When I was coming up the only folks with hair like that was sick."

Me:  "Sick? W-ow."

Grady elder:  *looks apologetic* "I was just suggesting it in case you wonted a change or something."

Me:  "I know, Mr. P. I'll keep it in mind, okay?"

Grady elder:  "Alright then, sugar."

Me:  *smiling*

Grady elder: "And I'm workin' on them cigarettes, hear? It's jest been more than fifty years so it's hard, baby. But I'mon try."

Me:  "Good, Mr. P."  *squeezing his hand for a moment*  "Okay then, sir. . . Let me go ahead and let your doctor finish wrapping up the visit, okay? So good seeing you as always."

Grady elder:  *looking pensive*

Me:  "Sir?"

Grady elder: "Look here, Miss Manning. . ."

Me:  *hand on the doorknob with raised eyebrows*

Grady elder: "I didn't hurt your feelins did I? Sayin' all that stuff about your hairdo?"

Me:  "Not one bit, Mr. Purifoy!"

Grady elder:  "Oh good, baby. Cawse you know I love you don't you? Even with your hairdo like that."

Me:  *palm on chest*  "You know what? I do know that, sir. And I love you right back."

Nope. Not offended. Nope. Not annoyed. Because this? This is the best part of what I do. The people. The relationships. The funny little exchanges. The laughter and the hand squeezes. All of these things swirling together every single day and all of these things that make these ordinary days feel so extraordinary.

That's all I've got today.

Hey. . . .Pay attention to something ordinary today. . . . and find the extraordinary in it, hear?

***
Happy Tuesday.



Now playing on my mental iPod. . . .Greg Jones' Smallville anthem -- "It's just an ordinary day." Couldn't embed it, sorry!

BE-yawn-say and her hairdo.