A Monologue, By That Thing In The Parking Lot

Our narrator, in the rain, in the parking lot, just before he began to speak. (copyright, me)

Back then, I was really something. I had purpose. Nothing moved without my say so. It looks like that time has passed. Here I am now, sitting in some parking lot, in the rain.

I made things work. I got things done. Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m smart enough to know I didn’t do it all. On my own, I was just something. But when I was part of something I’d keep the others in line and help them do their jobs. They did so much. We worked together, we were like a machine, we were a team.

They say that there is no I in team. That’s meant to say that none of us are more important than the ones who surround us. Here, alone  in the rain, it is a little cold. There’s no I in team, but I’ve learned that there’s no me in that team anymore.

A closer look at that thing. (copyright, me)

You’re looking at me like you don’t know what to say. Or is it you don’t what to call me? Back when I had it going on… no one knew my name back then either. People never even spoke of me. In my business, if they’re talking about you, they’re complaining about you.  When things are going well, you’re invisible. Not a mention until the day I finally had a bad day. Things went wrong. People pointed me out and said I had to go. They knew who I was then, but now? Yeah, but now…

Now I’m wet and in the cold. There’s no I in team, there’s no quit in me. I’m made of stronger stuff than that. Recycling is big now. I’ll find my way back. When I do, I’ll slip into my new place in a new machine that I never really left.

What I’ve been through will make me better than when I was new. Still, it is kind of raw out here in the rain today, isn’t it?

A quick note – on my last reading of this before I hit publish it occurred to me that this reads as if The Thing was a metaphor for me as I approach retiring and changing careers. It isn’t.

I saw it in the parking lot, wondered about it, and took it on as a writing challenge.  I’ve written about a thing in a parking lot before, but it wasn’t such a dark piece.These are just the words that came out of me this time.

I’m going to hit publish and go play disc golf.

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