I
I’ve always felt just a little uncomfortable around my Aunt Mabel.
There was a nervousness about her, which made me nervous too!
Sometimes when she would move, there was an abruptness to it.
She was a gentle soul, but a nervous one too!
I always knew where she had been, as I found twisted napkins and tissues here and there she had left behind.
I met up with an old friend who said I was calmer than when we had been together years before.
My wife recently shared with me I make abrupt movements when I become nervous.
She said it made all of our children a bit nervous, too.
It dawned on me, I was a lot like my Aunt Mabel.
It was confirmed by my wife when she said she knew where I’d been, finding twisted napkins and tissues I too had left behind.
I’ve slowed down in the years, since then.
I know because Eli (Woof!) likes lying down next to me.
And my grandchildren seek me out, even when I try to escape for a moment of solitude.
I don’t have nervousness completely conquered.
I have a client who says, when I’m speaking to an audience, I move like Kramer from Seinfeld.
He laughs, and continues inviting me to speak to his audience.
My Aunt Mabel is no longer around.
Someday I will be, no longer around.
Rest assured there will always be someone around who will express their discomfort with me.
They too may be surprised about themselves someday.
II
After reading my thoughts,
my wife said, “I didn’t quite comprehend what you meant.
Yes, you were a bit nervous like your Aunt Mabel.
But, only a bit.
It’s different than that.
I think your movement is
from walking and swinging on crutches, when you were so young.
They became part of you,
as you used them to walk and to swing and to jump.
Sometimes, even now, you look like you’re scurrying
from one place to another.
I’m grateful for crutches that helped you to move.
I ask, Like Mick Jagger scurries on a concert stage?
Or, like Kramer scurrying on Seinfeld’s stage?