A sweet struggling elder lady, and a kind christian boy...
So i'm there. Doing my 6 loads of laundry. Along with a more elder lady, and her son I assume. It appears they live second hand...well I do...but, they had it just a bit harder. she was only washing her clothes, not drying them...Interesting to me...remember that
I am pressin' on and drying my clothes, get ripped off by 2 machines, 50 cents on one machine that didnt get hot, and 25 cents on another machine that didnt heat up either. Well one machine took 25 cents and never stopped running, bonus I thought. Well I finished up my shit, and was gettin it all folded up, and told the lady, "I just wanted to let you know I put 25 cents in that machine and it didnt stop, if you wanted to use it, my 25 cents is probably still good." She put her clothes in and sure enough it kept going.
We got to chit chattin about laundry and the peice of shit dryers, and she asked me what I thought a 1979 2 dollar bill was worth. I said "who knows, but i'd hold on to it. I have a 1980 one I keep in my wallet for the hell of it." I told her "hell, hold on to it, you never know." and told her some places that would probably know what it is worth. she said, "well i'm glad you told me that, I was half tempted to walk to the bank next door and cash it in so I could dry my clothes, but figured I would just hang dry my clothes in the back yard." I said, "That's to bad" and she changed the subject. I got a phone call from my number one ninja warrior, actually just a friend of mine in Arkansas, and she went out to her van. I was off the phone in the matter of a few minutes, and she walks up to me and says, "that does say 1979 right?" I said no, it says 1976. and we just talked about that bill for a few minutes, may seem boring to some, but it wsa interesting to me. I wanted to help her get her clothes dry, but didnt have any money, Besides my 2 dollar bill, but found 3 dollars in quarters in my ash tray. she was out of the facility, so I laid them on some of her folder clothes for when she gets back. I just hope she got them.
The story doesnt end there.
I was carrying my clothes in a desert camoflauge bag to my car, when this young guy, 17-18 maybe says to me, "Did you just got back from the desert?" I say "Yep. About 3 weeks ago. He says "My dad just went to Qatar a week ago." I told him "I know where thats at, I had to stay there for 2 days on the way down, and one day on the way back. Not to bad of a location." He said, "Thats cool. How was it living in Iraq?" I tell him, "Nothing like Qatar. We did have hardend buildings however, and didnt have to walk outside to shower. So that was a plus." Then he asked me about my gear (Helmet and Vest). I was like "Yeah, we had to carry it with us, but we didnt have to wear it all the time. There wasnt much of a threat of gun fire on our base." I did however intentionally not tell him about our rocket attacks a few times a week, because I didnt now want him to worry about his father. We talked a few minutes longer, i walked out put my stuff in the car, and was walking back in for my other bag...he kind of hung out by the door, cause i guess he knew i would need a hand, and when he opened the door, I told him, "Good luck with your fathers deployment. I know its hard on you and your family with your father being deployed." He said "thanks alot, you take it easy..." I said "you too." He then stopped for a minute and said, "can we say any prayers for you?" I said "my prayers have been answered because I made it home safely. Pray for those over there...well, I have a family, maybe you can pray for them, and yours." He said "No prob." Then shook my hand, and we just exchange names, and said see ya later.
Just a slightly not so normal day at the laundry mat. Thought I would share