Barbie

 As you probably have seen from some of my posts, there have been some people that have taken me into their homes and welcomed me into their lives.  One was in my last post, and another is in this one.
 I worked with a woman named Peggy.  Her husband died just before my Mother did, and we shared a common bond.  Peggy was about 20 years older than me.  She had won a contest at Macy's and was flown to England to see the Wedgwood China factory and have tea with Sara Ferguson, when she was still married to Prince Andrew.
 One day, Peggy asked if I wanted to go to an apple farm in North Carolina.  I had never been to one, but it sounded like fun.  She told me to bring a jacket.  It was warm in Columbia, so I didn't think I needed a jacket.  When we got to the mountains, it was absolutely freezing.  She said I could wear her granddaughter's jacket, which was in the car.  I agreed, but found it had the Barbie doll logo on it.  I put it on anyway.  There were a lot of people there at the farm, and everybody pointed at me and laughed.  The jacket was warm, so I just had to accept the stares.  We had lunch up there at a good restaurant, and the workers there pointed and laughed.  I think I cheered up a lot of people that day, and there are probably folks even today laughing about the 52-year old man wearing a Barbie jacket.  That's okay.  At least, I learned to take a jacket when going to the mountains.  Don't be macho about it.  Comfort is more important.