Hysterically, Yet ...Another Skill

Okay everybody calm down. You're not a genius if you can read a sentence upside down, in print. I have a story...

When working in defense contracting many moons ago. My boss, Glenn and I had a funny line. "We'll have to kill you if we tell you that." Although, certainly not legal and not desired by ehhh hmmm one of us ... Eye roll... Pray tell, of course not everyone thought is was funny. But after the person would leave the vicinity, we would smile like the cat that swallowed the canary and sometimes giggle.

At some point and time, our director, Chris emphatically declared "... no one can read your handwriting Glenn." Me realizing they were possibly discussing sensitive material, I may have not been cleared for. I halted my motion. Chris hearing my somewhat soft steps on the carpet outside Glenn's office said, "Can Jody read your handwriting?"

Glenn now truly in wonderment, "Um. Huh." Chris answered his own query, "I guarantee she won't be able to read this." A pause remained, as I respectfully resided outside Glenn's office door. Not looking in. Hearing papers shuffled from within Glenn's office.

Chris calls out, "Jody, you can come in." I enter, "Yes? I gather you'd like me to read the little piece of paper in front of Glenn on his desk?" The two men standing look at me and nod. I don't move, as I read it outloud to them without a hitch. They scoff together. Chris responds with a smirk, "That's upside down. Are you sure?" I replied, "Oh I wasn't thinking of that. But that's what's written by Glenn on that piece of paper." Glenn replies, "Jody's never complains." I nod, "Yeah, it's my job. You know, take an order."

Chris shook his head, still smirking. "And you weren't in here either, as I entered Glenn's office. You were working around the corner. (A beat) You have no problems reading Glenn's handwriting?" I replied, "I never thought about it."

I now declare:

I am the QUEEN of bad-handwriting upside down reading. (Evil laugh included.) And I am still alive. --- Jody-Lynn Reicher

Comments

Completion of Humanness

Completion of Humanness As we arrive to the completion of the first year without Norman, I had decided long before he'd passed that I would continue to do things certain things he liked yet could no longer do. I decided I would not take a day off of fitness. I would run at least for 500 days in a row. I began that in early 2020. I'd not be concerned with the distance I'd run. It was the very thing I convinced Norman and the thing that mattered to him, from the very first discussion we had August 11th, 1981, was fitness. I loved that he was a College Boy. He loved that I was a Marine. We tickled each other's soul with such admirations. Later fitness continued as an old discussion from 1994 ...getting outside and to run no matter what. I would say to him, "Run 200 meters, then 400 meters. If it doesn't feel good, stop. Turn around and walk back home and know you did your best. That is all you can ask of yourself." I said this, knowing he would get dow

Reicher's 2021 Holiday Letter

11/23/2021... The Reicher Holiday Letter... Yes, finally I'm on time...LOL. As the late November wind whips and the delayed leaves fall to the ground in our neighborhood, I await the first sign of snow. I stand outside, begin a run, do outside chores, bring in the mail and sniff the air for the smell of snow. Yes, humans can smell snow. Just like a spring rain approaching. It is awaiting to provide a cleansing of the dreams that need to be refreshed or re-routed. It’s all how you look at it. Really. Oh, the word ‘really’. Per a few grammar writing geeks. A good writer is not supposed to use the word, ‘really’. I’ll say it again. Really? There is another word I discovered this year, not supposed to be used in writing by writers. I cannot at this moment remember what word that may be. But I’m sure, it’ll arrive in my mind as I write this Holiday letter to you all. A reading audience. Where to begin this 2021 Reicher Holiday Letter? I’ll start with our smallest resident. T

In My World

As I finish putting away the week's groceries, I contemplate other's lives. Aside from my two daughters, I consider what may be other's lives. How they have conducted their lives over the past two years. This is a thought not unusual for me to have. Yet, it occurs more often than not. Especially now, as the population is probably feeling ever more irked. Regarding perhaps. their illusion of any lack of their freedom. But isn't that what life is about? The illusion of who we are. What we are about. Where we stand on the planet. Who we love. And who loves us. Our significance. Couldn't we imagine if this were all just an illusion? Sounds like a "Twighlight Zone" episode, perhaps. My aim here, are the thoughts of reckoning. I'll explain why I'm claiming such a thing. For about twenty-eight years of a career in dealing with injured athletes, pain patients, chronically ill and the terminally ill. I found that there were many people who lied to

Writing Reality

Search This Blog