The Last Minute

I'm trying to wrap up a few loose ends here to get ready for our trip next week. That means going through stacks of papers, cleaning house, and going shopping. I've been planning to go shopping for several months now, but it never works out. I've never figured out how a person with bad feet is supposed to go shopping. I look at all the people shopping, and it seems to be a rather simple process. You just walk. You go down the sidewalk, turn into a little shop, browse for a minute, come out and go to the next one, pass up several that don't look worthwhile, try another one, and another one, and eventually come out with several small packages and then you get on the bus and go home. If you're old or weak or tired, you can stop and rest, but you still cover a fairly good amount of ground.
     If you're really in bad shape, you get someone to push you in a wheel chair, which you usually don't take into a shop because there isn't room. Just walking around in several smalls stores adds up to a fairly good amount of walking. If that someone is your husband, and he is willing and strong and patient, it can sort of work, but it isn't the same as shopping by yourself, and I worry about wasting too much of his time.
     It will be fun to shop in Texas, where I can park close to the front door of several stores, and many places have scooters--at least the grocery stores, the hardware store, and one fabric store. But there are a few things I want to get here.
     Maybe, just maybe, I will manage to go shopping tomorrow. Too bad I've waited till the last possible minute, and it's really hot out. I'll have to leave early, and drink lots of water -- oh, wait -- here's another problem--there aren't too many public restrooms in Jerusalem. (Some people aren't fazed by that--I won't tell you what they do.) So I'll have to figure my route and judge the distances carefully.  It'll be a long day and I'll be exhausted. But I can stop and buy a huge, wonderful salad. If I can't find what I'm looking for, I'll comfort myself by buying a scarf. Wait a minute, get totally exhausted over a scarf worth not much more than a dollar? Sure! After all, I've waited several months for it. And I haven't had a chocolate bar for several weeks, either.

"If it weren't for the last minute, a lot of things would never get done."