Holding the Prescription

"How ARE you?" I asked the familiar woman in the aisle while shopping at Target. Several life chapters ago, this woman used to be a fixture in my life. Today, we were merely anonymous consumers, discreetly holding our obvious purchases. I was trying to carry all mine but they kept inadvertently slipping out of my hands as I spoke, one by one and onto the floor. Over and over again, up and down, as I swung to catch one and then grab another from falling. It was like Cirque du Soleil for Bathroom Supplies. It was ridiculous, and I was regretting not getting a cart.

While I was busy juggling, it seemed she was clutching. The pharmacist had just handed her several prescriptions, and she grabbed them tightly in a fist and then held them all extremely close to herself. They seemed a confidential shield between us, despite the fact that all the labels were facing out. The conversation began as normal, but when combined with the props and staging it was all teetering on being oddly discordant.

"Wow, it's been like ten years since I've seen you - how is your family?" she asked kindly. I caught her up quickly, and pulled out my Smartphone for the quintessential photos. There were ooo’s and ahh’s as well as both of us reflecting on how we were now older, and aging.

I was trying to remember her daughter’s name. "How's your daughter? She went to medical school, right?"
“Yes.”
There was not one brain cell that could recall this child’s name, but I could picture her vividly. As a young girl, she seemed extremely shy, quiet and very studious. She had skipped a grade and was always into academic pursuits, as were her parents. She had been destined for a PhD or more. “She’s a doctor, now, right?”

"Well, actually, not anymore. She just left the profession, after all that training and all those years in practice.”
“OH. Really? Wow...Well, what does she do now?”
“She’s a country singer.” Thud went the toilet paper.

"I'm sorry? What?" I said as I tried to hold it all together.

"A country singer."

This seemed the very last thing one would ever, ever, ever, ever have thought this quiet, reserved child would choose to become, or genre of music I would imagine they might ever have played at home. This news immediately made me irrational. I fixated on the stage personas of Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Winona Judd and Faith Hill and placed them onto this young woman I knew. Like a virtual paper doll in my head. None of them fit.

“Wow…" I said to myself but realized it was out loud.
I eventually rallied with, "Is she happy?"

"Happier than we ever imagined! Who knew she could sing?!!!!!" She gesticulated freely now every time she spoke, with her bags of prescriptions sounding like medicinal maracas.

“Yeah, really. Huh. Who knew…”
The Noxema now fell from my grasp, and was rolling away so I skipped around the corner to pick it up. "Have you actually heard her sing?" I said while on the other side.

"Nope, not yet."

I was regrouping my purchases as well as my reaction. "So…a country singer…Huh. Well, I guess she moved to Nashville, Tennessee then?"

"No, no, no, she still lives in New York with her husband."

“Oh. Well, I suppose New York City is a really good choice for a singer, too!”

"Actually, they live in Scarsdale. Scarsdale, New York.” She shuffled the white bags of prescriptions as if she were putting them in order. I shuffled my feet.

“Is there a lot of work for country singers in Scarsdale?" And just as I began to slip into judging, her words guided me back.

"I don't know, good question! All we know is she is very happy and finding her way. We are so proud of her.”

“Well, that’s beautiful. She must feel, well, so free now. It sounds like she has a new calling. Good for her!” At this point I finally had a good handle on what I was holding.

“I just knew you would understand! After all, both of your adult children chose to be artists!”

“Yes, indeed. They sure did. Right. ”

A few minutes later, we hugged goodbye, holding the basics between us. My old friend seemed at peace as we stood between the hedgerows of feminine products, incontinence pads and hemorrhoid ointments. It seemed an important place to honestly bear the truth and reckon with all that keeps us humble and real.