It\u2019s the wedding season and they\u2019ll be doing the Hokey-Pokey at many of the receptions. I don\u2019t know why; nobody does, but that\u2019s what happens. Old coots don\u2019t do the Hokey Pokey. We do the Zig-Zag, sometimes called the Herky-Jerky. When we walk across a room, for example, to put a book on a shelf and spot a hat by the sofa that belongs in the car, we halt, start toward it, and then come to a sudden stop, realizing that the book won\u2019t make it to the shelf if we get distracted. Later in the day, we\u2019ll wonder where it is. We know this, because we get sidetracked all the time. In this case, we stop, do a zig, turn around, do a zag, ignore the hat and keep on to the bookshelf, spending a minute or so getting it into the right spot. That Zig-Zag saves us. Mission accomplished!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the way back from the bookshelf, we don\u2019t notice the hat; we forgot all about it. Besides, we\u2019re deep in thought, patting our self on the back for putting the book on the shelf. Then, we start to wonder \u2013 \u201cWhat was it that caused me to do the Zig-Zag?\u201d Nothing comes to mind. We shrug it off. Later in the day, in the car, we can\u2019t find the hat that was supposed to be there. \u201cNow where did that get to,\u201d we say to the steering wheel. We do a lot of that, talking to inanimate objects: the steering wheel, the refrigerator, the TV, the cupboard, even the dog and the cat get a good dose of our queries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone who happened to see this event wouldn\u2019t think anything of it, wouldn\u2019t even notice the Zig-Zag route we took because that\u2019s how we walk all the time. Follow one of us down an aisle in the supermarket or along a sidewalk and you realize we never go in a straight line. Our path is always an erratic zig and zag, interspaced with a stumble, followed by a lurch (which is the Herky-Jerky). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, old coots don\u2019t do the Hokey Pokey; we\u2019ve got our own favorite dance step and we don\u2019t have to wait for a wedding to do it. The Hokey Pokey is way overrated anyway! <\/p>\n\n\n\n