Meadowlark And Almost

I am a whistler. I cannot remember a time that I did not whistle. I don't remember when I first learned whistle. Whistling is the only musical instrument that I ever really achieved any great skill at doing. I think I used to whistle when I was very young and had to spend a lot of time in the dark or more or more time in the dark that I would liked. Longtime readers will likely remember that it was my job on Sunday nights in the winter to access the basement of house where our bottled fruit specifically peaches and pears lived. Our basement was accessed by a staircase on the outside of the house. Accessing our basement was always scary. It took all my courage to get to the bottom of the stairs summer or winter but especially winter when the dark came very early. Many times the only weapon I had against the darkness was whistling a tool like you by my side even today. And often it's not the dark that frightens me it's the things I can see which often forces me to whistle now.

But there's also all the other times that I whistle. I love to whistle when in hallways with high ceilings that give a good acoustical feedback on the notes I blowout. If not high ceilings then long hallways can also produce great feedback on exhaled note. The independent living center, where I worked for a great while, add great, long halls. I would often whistle as I rolled down the halls for the feedback. A good friend of mine by the name of Alan was our recreation coordinator. We called him the Rec-exec. We went through a time when everybody everyone got a nickname. Mine of course turned out to be Meadowlark. Meadowlark just makes sense that someone who whistle as much as I, have the name of a bird so gifted with music. I was Meadowlark Mark. Alan gave me that name – – Alan also carried the title of “Almost Al”. Al had this title bequeathed on him by his teammates on the wheelchair basketball team the Wheeling Utes for the many shots Al took at the basket and missed. Actually Al is quite good at basketball and all the other sports he takes part in. Alan liked me uses of wheelchair to get around. Alan's paraplegic and I'm a tetraplegic. Al and I have been through a great deal for the past 30 years. I'm glad we are friends. We don't see much of each other anymore. Thank goodness for social platforms like Facebook was allows us a vehicle to keep in some contact. Just a appreciate the role Al has played my life. Alan has opened my life to challenges and experiences I could never have imagined let alone enjoyed. Like madly rolling to a BART station to get back to San Francisco before the sun went down. I was whistling up a storm that day.

I whistle. I am a whistler it's what I do.