Everything is Going Wrong
Title
Everything is Going Wrong
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"Some time ago, I wrote that we are outliving our bodies."
Date
2013-03-10
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Coverage
2013
Identifier
Everything_Is_Going_Wrong
Text
Everything Is Going Wrong
Some time ago, I wrote that we are outliving our bodies. That as we get older, our body parts stop working as they should. We fix them when we can—glasses, hearing aids, dentures, hip and knee replacement, stents etc -- but they are never the same. Now, it seems that everything is going wrong, internally and externally. It as if the world is conspiring against us.
I write this as I look back on a week to which I have been looking forward. David was coming home, and I had my discussion group, and my writing class, and lunch with friends, and a Friday morning meeting. So what happens? I get a lousy cold. I haven’t had a cold the entire winter. No coughing, no sneezing, no running nose, no feeling tired, and achy. Now I have it all. (I managed to do the above, coughing and blowing my nose, except the Friday meeting.)
David was flying in Monday to be tested and interviewed Tuesday and Wednesday by the faculty of the Hebrew College Rabbinical School to which he has applied. I had planned to pick him up at the airport. Fran said she had a doctor’s appointment and needed the car. David took the subway.
On Tuesday, I drove David to Hebrew College, and returned home to learn that the handle came off the bedroom door. I also learned that our house cleaner was given a ticket for parking more than two hours on Pond Av. I promised to take care of everything.
David’s return flight was on Thursday at 8:30 am. A snow storm started Wednesday night and continued through the next day. Lots of flights were being cancelled. He changed his flight for Friday at 11:30 am. The snow lessened Thursday afternoon, and when we got up Friday morning the snow fall had resumed. We drove to the airport at 9:30 am with the understanding that his flight was leaving as scheduled. It didn’t. Hours of waiting, and when he got to Philadelphia, he missed the connecting flight, couldn’t get on the next flight, and ended up on a flight that left at 8:30 pm. He did make it home, but much later than planned.
That afternoon, when I tried to use the phone, there was no dial tone. The phone was out of order. I called RCN (on my cell phone) to report that my phone was not working. I was put on hold for almost a half hour. When I finally got someone, he said he would check. He then put me on hold. He came back to tell me that there was something wrong with my line.
Then the strap on Fran’s watch, which I had bought for her a few months earlier, broke.
The next morning I went to the door to get the paper. No paper.
Then I turned on the computer to check my e-mail, and saw that a friend forwarded a You Tube video which I clicked on, but couldn’t get sound.
Then I turned on TV and as I changed channels, I saw that TCM had been showing a movie I would have loved to see, but it was ending in 10 minutes.
Now, if you asked David, I am sure he will have a different take on it. His interview went well. The hours at the Boston and Philadelphia airports weren’t so terrible. He got a seat in first class on the Philadelphia to Detroit flight.
Maybe it is me; accentuating the negative. It is Sunday. The sun is out. The snow is melting. The phone is working. I fixed Fran’s watchband and the door handle. David told me how to get sound on the You Tube video, and I have the Sunday NY Times and Boston Globe.
3-10-13
Some time ago, I wrote that we are outliving our bodies. That as we get older, our body parts stop working as they should. We fix them when we can—glasses, hearing aids, dentures, hip and knee replacement, stents etc -- but they are never the same. Now, it seems that everything is going wrong, internally and externally. It as if the world is conspiring against us.
I write this as I look back on a week to which I have been looking forward. David was coming home, and I had my discussion group, and my writing class, and lunch with friends, and a Friday morning meeting. So what happens? I get a lousy cold. I haven’t had a cold the entire winter. No coughing, no sneezing, no running nose, no feeling tired, and achy. Now I have it all. (I managed to do the above, coughing and blowing my nose, except the Friday meeting.)
David was flying in Monday to be tested and interviewed Tuesday and Wednesday by the faculty of the Hebrew College Rabbinical School to which he has applied. I had planned to pick him up at the airport. Fran said she had a doctor’s appointment and needed the car. David took the subway.
On Tuesday, I drove David to Hebrew College, and returned home to learn that the handle came off the bedroom door. I also learned that our house cleaner was given a ticket for parking more than two hours on Pond Av. I promised to take care of everything.
David’s return flight was on Thursday at 8:30 am. A snow storm started Wednesday night and continued through the next day. Lots of flights were being cancelled. He changed his flight for Friday at 11:30 am. The snow lessened Thursday afternoon, and when we got up Friday morning the snow fall had resumed. We drove to the airport at 9:30 am with the understanding that his flight was leaving as scheduled. It didn’t. Hours of waiting, and when he got to Philadelphia, he missed the connecting flight, couldn’t get on the next flight, and ended up on a flight that left at 8:30 pm. He did make it home, but much later than planned.
That afternoon, when I tried to use the phone, there was no dial tone. The phone was out of order. I called RCN (on my cell phone) to report that my phone was not working. I was put on hold for almost a half hour. When I finally got someone, he said he would check. He then put me on hold. He came back to tell me that there was something wrong with my line.
Then the strap on Fran’s watch, which I had bought for her a few months earlier, broke.
The next morning I went to the door to get the paper. No paper.
Then I turned on the computer to check my e-mail, and saw that a friend forwarded a You Tube video which I clicked on, but couldn’t get sound.
Then I turned on TV and as I changed channels, I saw that TCM had been showing a movie I would have loved to see, but it was ending in 10 minutes.
Now, if you asked David, I am sure he will have a different take on it. His interview went well. The hours at the Boston and Philadelphia airports weren’t so terrible. He got a seat in first class on the Philadelphia to Detroit flight.
Maybe it is me; accentuating the negative. It is Sunday. The sun is out. The snow is melting. The phone is working. I fixed Fran’s watchband and the door handle. David told me how to get sound on the You Tube video, and I have the Sunday NY Times and Boston Globe.
3-10-13
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Everything is Going Wrong,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 26, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/205.