Fresh from the recent Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, I have one last story to share. This one is dedicated to the driver at Yellow Cab in Dayton Ohio. Being the insensitive person I often am, I didn't ask his name, but I got his number...14.
#14 found me in the hotel lobby, calling out "Mrs. Thurlow." I answered to his call and off we went to the cab on the curb. I quickly texted my husband his number and the number of Yellow Cab (overthinking all the Lifetime movies of abduction) 'cause I wanna be safe. Am I the only person who thinks this stuff?
Safely in the backseat, #14 asks me why I was visiting Dayton. I tell him about the workshop and mention that I write a blog. Connie Schultz would have been proud for two reasons: 1. I called myself a writer and 2. I didn't use the word "just"... just a writer, just a little blog, etc.. But, I digress, this blog is about my driver.
So, #14 listens to my explanation of "Married to the Material" and why I write about my husband. I tell #14 that he is a Financial Advisor by day, who hangs with the kids at night... jumping on the trampoline after work. He's forty-four and rides a dirtbike, cliff dives with our daughter and her friends; basically he's my third child.
#14 replied, "That doesn't sound so bad, there are plenty of kids in juvi that could only wish for that type of Dad." Hmm, #14 just put me in my place.
The subject changed and we talked about the mild winter and miles of green. Being from the desert, this is foreign to me. #14, proud of Dayton said - "God loves Dayton so much, that why he made it so green." Poetic huh? He went on to talk about other small towns and told me, "Indianapolis is Mayberry on steroids."
Then, #14 confessed that he was a journalist for over twenty years.
#14 told me he worked minimum wage for maximum work and wrote for the Agriculture Section of the paper. He represents working Dayton...no make that working America.
Thank you #14.
The cab ride was $32.00 but the words...priceless.
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