As I navigated my maroon SUV off of North Bluff Road, I was grateful for being able to park again on 156a ST in @thecityofsurrey, about 2 blocks away from Peace Arch Hospital. The sun warmed my body as I lumbered down out of my vehicle, walking around its perimeter to the passenger side to get my @bobross_thejoyofpainting backpack out. I slung one of its straps over my right shoulder as I let physics glide the car door shut on its own. I reached into my pocket, grasping to find the key fob to activate the car alarm & started my march towards the hospital for my wound care appointment.
My iPhone open, I snapped the odd photo as I moved forward along 16th Avenue. An abandoned t-shirt lay sprawled over the curb & onto the road, it’s white tag standing in contrast with the sunlit black cotton that lay alone, mere centimetres from traffic that sped by on the busy road.
Looking at the world through the lens of my iPhone sometimes distracts me from the silent throbbing that echoes up into my body from the injured great toe on my right foot.
I snap another photo of the green mesh fencing that’s been bent & twisted off of its metal frame. It once surrounded a house that’s now gone, on a large city block devoid of human life, with trees that still dot this land of previously manicured yards. These lots will soon be home to new towers of 12-15 stories, where the memories that live with these trees & this fence will disappear forever.
I park a few blocks away on purpose: to avoid paying the $6-10 dollars that the @cityofwhiterock charges to park close to the hospital. If I’d been smart, I’d have parked on 156a ST last year too. Maybe then I’d be able to afford the antibiotics I’m supposed to be taking right now.
I struggle with the tongs that are provided to allow visitors to grab a medical face mask. I pull one out but the tongs spring from my right hand & onto the floor. “Sigh,” is the sound that escapes my mouth as I try bending my knees to bring my body low enough to grab the tongs & return them to the small cart they live on. I register & head up to wound care.
(74/366).