Love Locks and Laughs

When we are out for our strolls, running errands, or eating in restaurants, Bob often sees people he knows.  He really does not know them, but he is sure he does.  He waves at them, he talks to them, and he shakes their hands. Bob even has taken up waving to the piano player/vocalist in our church choir during the worship songs.

Most of the time, Bob thinks he knows the person from the Army or the Navy (he was a Marine), or from the company (not sure what that its), from when he played for the Chargers (NOT!), or from the Police Department (YES!).   Sometimes he’ll just point to people and say, “Who is that?” “Is that someone we know?” Rarely is it someone we know.  But in his mind, everyone is someone he knows.  From the ticket taker at SeaWorld, the person in the car next to us at the stop sign, to the couple walking by us at the beach.  He either knows them or has worked with them.  When he approaches them, it leads to interesting conversations but thankfully, most people are kind and listen politely to his rambling.  I think it’s becoming more obvious to people that he’s off base a tad bit.

While walking across Cabrillo Bridge at Balboa Park this week, Bob stopped to check out the padlocks that have been attached to the bridge.  I have attempted several times to explain that couples lock these padlocks on the bridge and throw away the key to symbolize their love and commitment. He continued to to be puzzled over the locks.  Eventually we moved on—or so I thought!

We were only a few steps away from the locks on the bridge and a man approached us from the other direction and passed us by. Bob turned and started going after him (slowly with his rolling walker) hollering loudly  “Sir, Sir, Sir, Mr. Master, are you Mr. Master?” “You’ve left something on the bridge.”.  The man must have felt that Bob was coming after him for he picked up his pace and scurried away. Thankfully, Bob stopped pursuing him and stopped hollering. Boy was I puzzled as to what that was all about.  Bob eventually was able to explain that that man was Mr. Master and he had left something on the bridge.

 It took me a few seconds to figure out what had just happened.   It was a MASTER Lock on the bridge!!!

So, I had a good laugh (at Bob’s expense, I guess).  Bob did not laugh as he was worried that Mr. Master had lost his lock!

 Hopefully if you are ever in Venice, or Paris, or some of the famous places with bridges covered with love locks, you’ll think of Bob with 1 o and have a good laugh, too.