When we get older

Just thought of this in a random kinda way: I throw, bat, and do one or two other things left-handed. Why do I bring this up?

Changing my shoes,—hang on, I’ll connect the dots—I leaned into the wall for balance with my right hand but, in my head I’d used my left. No big deal but it got me thinking because of stories from my childhood.

The rumor was, parents thought I was left-handed when I was a baby. No actual evidence on my part. That was their take.

So the story goes, they started trying to turn me right-handed. And no, that sentence isn’t a metaphor. I’m not so sure of their methods, as I don’t write with my left, but I throw and bat—though I can bat from both sides of home plate—left-handed.

Having grown up in the 60s I was subjected to many crime series, not just TV—though TV did contribute massively—books, and even comicbooks. And inevitably, the solver—a detective of some sort, private eye, police detective, boy/girl kid detective, etc.—would pull out the trick of throwing something, and in some cases just handing an item to the suspect, who unconsciously, and foolishly, accepts the offering with whatever hand is the dominant one. Thus revealing they’re left/right handed just like the killer, missing heir, etc.

What does this all mean? Well…okay here’s my thinking.

As a kid growing up, I knew I was different (right-handed but with left-handed tendencies. Again not a metaphor.). I mean it was obvious when starting Little League and everyone except me batted from the right side of the base. I was in a small group of one. And my dad had bought me a giant baseball glove. I think it may have been designed for a first baseman as it had a bigger pocket than most everyone else’s gloves. Still no big deal, except I was a horrible first baseman and I was soon relegated to the outfield. To be honest I was happy to get out of the infield. Not my thing.

What does my baseball non-career have to do with my handedness? Not much just empirical evidence to back up my thought.

And that thought came out of my leaning against the wall for balance while un-snapping my Velcro shoe laces. Like I said in my head I did it with my left hand but in reality muscle memory was active in my right hand and that was the hand I used.

Again—there’s that word again. LOL. What’s my point? It’s just that as I’ve gotten older (watch it!) I’m finding these segues(?) happening more and more often. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that any of my long-term friends will laugh at the thought of Al’s “segues” happening more.

And this post is a perfect example.

As I walked away from the changing of my shoes, the “segue” popped into my thoughts.

Me in my brain: I used my left hand to prop myself up.

My brain: Umm, no you used your right hand.
          Me: Huh? That’s weird I wonder why that happened.

Brain: Really? Of course you wou…

Me: Wait, I could write a blog post about this. ‘Cuz I was supposedly left-handed as a baby and they wanted me to be right-handed. Oh that reminds me of playing Little League as a left-handed thrower…

And I could continue but…(as another totally non-sequitur of a thought pops into my head)

And a final thought: what does this have to do with getting older? I’ll let you in on a secret. When first thinking about this I had every intention of making a poing about being older and the whole left-hand/right-hand thing. But as you just witnessed that got lost in the field that is my brain.

Enjoy.

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