First Impressions

  I park the car and walk to the elevators. I push button 3. It takes me from the parking ramp to the skywalk over the street below into the main clinic of MDA. I've taken this trek hundreds of times,  hundreds. It's routine. Then I go to elevator B and that takes me to the Stem Cell Transplant Clinic on the 8th floor. But I get ahead of my story. There is a Security Guard Station on the 3rd floor just after you get off the skywalk. As I'm walking I guess I was preoccupied and in the back ground I hear, "Sir." And within a couple of seconds, again, "Sir". Then a third time more loudly and authoritatively, "Sir". I stopped and turned to look at what was going on. Was there a problem behind me or something, but she seemed to be looking at me. "Yes?", I said. She asked, "Where are you going?" I was startled. "Excuse me?", I asked. I wondered if I had absentmindedly gone down the wrong way and I looked up, and no, this was the correct hall. "Where are you going?", she asked again. "To my appointment." "Where's that?", she asked, and added, "I've never seen you before." And I told her I was headed for Stem Cell Transplantation. And after a few exchanges she must have figured I was safe and let me go ahead.

Those of you that know me understand I do not dress up. In fact it has been said I dress down. I also seldom go anywhere without the felt hat Lynne had given me years ago. My picture ID at MDA has me wearing that hat. Today I was not wearing it. When I told, Lisa, the nurse that I had been stopped by Security, she had a good laugh. I figured it was time to spruce up a bit. The next week I had trimmed my beard, Lynne gave me a hair cut, and I wore my hat. Not one more problem with security.

What is funny about this story is that for a second I was startled that someone would see me as perhaps a homeless or some kind of undesirable person. Clothes do make a difference. That same hat can be folded, washed, and just about anything and be put back to shape in a few seconds. And if I fold the sides down or turn the hat sideways I can drop my IQ by appearance, at least 30 points. All this is funny now but for a second I wondered what the security guard saw.