#pay here

Early Christmas shopping at Federal's

Today's Walking Photo: Marginally funny story behind this…today I had an eye doctor appointment in Northwest Portland, and it was one of those swell eye exams where they dilate your peepers. Well, when I left the office I was doggedly determined to do my walk, in spite of the fact that I was SUPER light-sensitive, it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon, and even with sunglasses on I was flinching and cringing like a hermit who’d just emerged from his pitch-black cave after years of seclusion.

So even though it’s standard procedure for me to look at the ground quite a bit on my walks, today I was really doing that and staunchly avoiding looking anywhere vaguely skyward. Just every once in a while I’d look up briefly to orient myself and check when I was approaching an intersection. It was at one of those moments when I quickly lifted my head and thought I saw a big sign sternly admonishing, “PAY HER.” Huh? Puzzled, I summoned up my strength and looked again – “PAY HER.” But why? A billing dispute? Some #MeToo conflict gone public?

So I forced myself to open my eyes just a tad wider and look around a bit more, and yes, that’s when it dawned on me that I was walking past a parking lot and this was the payment station, with its fire-engine-red clarion call of “PAY HERE.” Embarrassing.

The moral? Perspective is everything.

Pay here