Reality and the surreal

A poster talks about the plight of the Holocaust survivors. Holocaust Survivors were very familiar to me growing up. They were friends, the people next door and sometimes relatives. The topic was well known within the community, but not one that was commonly discused. A person may have discussed those episodes in passing, but protracted conversations were rare.

The topics was certainly not taboo, but not something discussed. There was no point in bringing it up gratuitously. However, it was a constant and explained some odd habits of people within the community. The lady down the block with a sandwich in her purse wrapped in foil was one such person.

We go through our lives and along the way our lives are changed by events. The other day I ran into a wonderful coworker who was moved to another facility. She asked me if I still run my fan in the winter. Another coworker was aware of why I run the fan
and a glance between us was unspoken. I laughed and told her of course. The reason I run my fan is the white noise cancels out the low flying airplanes that fly over my desk. Only a handfull of people know of my whereabouts on 9-11. That coworker who asked is one of the few that knows. However, what seems to be an odd quirk is something more complex.