Hittin Curves/Riding High

In spite of all my lofty plans for Sunday, I ended up spending most of the day reading Harry Potter in the grass and sun of Central Park. It was wonderful.

Today was wonderful in a completely different way, as I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to ride along with one of the City Harvest truck drivers on his delivery routes. I arrived at the Food Rescue Facility in Queens at 7 a.m. and waited in the lounge (moderately awkwardly) with the drivers until my assigned host for the day was ready. Eddie turned out to be one of my favorite people I’ve met this summer: extraordinarily friendly, impressively loquacious and highly opinionated. I came home bursting with knowledge about his personal life and wisdom for life in general.

at the FRF — 7 a.m.
felt too awkward to ask him for a pic together at first, and forgot later on
and we’re off!

Eddie says women these days go after married men instead of single ones because married men are less likely to have AIDS. It’s a thing, apparently. Eddie has lots of opinions about relationships. He told me about how he calls his wife (of 33 years) his girlfriend because they date to keep the love alive. He buys her two dozen roses every other week and calls her every morning to wake her up.

Eddie also says that being nice to people will get you far in life, as will careful record-keeping and personal organization skills. He told me about how you sometimes have to demand respect from other people, and to never put up with someone treating you wrong. Eddie loves his job because it’s fun and fulfilling. His grandkids think he’s a hero because he feeds millions of people every day.

Eddie and I drove all around Manhattan, picking up food from grocery stores and restaurants and dropping it off at churches and other collection centers. All the while I learned all about his personal preferences (loves driving, top 40 radio played loudly, prank calls, sleeping in), dislikes (heights, rats, running, rap, sass), routines (what time he wakes up, when and where he eats, what he does on weekends) and plans (including moving to Florida to get a driving job for a similar nonprofit in Orlando after his youngest daughter moves out of his home in New York).

It was an extremely informative, engaging and entertaining day — especially because I felt entitled to two lunches: one at 10:30 a.m. (five hours after breakfast) and another at 2 p.m.

waiting for bags of bread to be handed up from this bakery’s underground storage room

Comments

  1. Susan - June 29, 2014 @ 10:54 pm

    Well, it is certain that you will know more about the "ins and outs" of NYNY than most folks in Tarboro!

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