MY ROBIN WILLIAMS STORY. I guess today just about everyone has a Robin Williams story to tell. I was holding off telling mine because its rather banal. But it is about a meeting between him and me. And it always warms my heart. My San Francisco friend and chiropractor par excellence is called Alan Cheng. Alan is one of those practitioners who can cure a cold by moving your energies and applying intelligent pressure to the places which matter. He can also put your back back in and adjust your cranium. You come out of Alans treatment room feeling brand new. What I tell you next may strike you as beside the point. But its not. For all my life, I have had an odd condition called Prosopagnosia. Otherwise known as Face Blindness. I could collide with my own mothers supermarket cart and wonder who the hell this woman thinks she is, splatting insults at me. She would have to ID herself. Im your mother Ducky. Remember me? The old faithful Libra/Pig? Then I would grovel and apologize all over the Cheerios aisle, schlep her groceries to the car for her and then buy her lunch. In order to recognize faces, I need props: (unusual eyeglasses, tattoos,mustaches (on women) or wardrobe hints) I cannot distinguish faces. So on the day of this here story, I exit of the treatment room at Dr. Chengs, feeling cured and chipper. On my way out to pay the bill, I notice a guy sitting in the tiny waiting room who looks familiar. He could have been my cobbler or the bartender at the Sweetwater or a Larkspur traffic cop. He wore holey jeans, scruffy sneakers and a sweatshirt which had last been red in 1982. He slumped in his chair. I thought, I know I know this man. If I dont say hello, He might think I am snubbing him. I puzzled and pondered for a few secs. Then it hit me. I still didnt know who he was, But I did know for sure that he was somebody famous. So I blurted and pointed and gaily enthused away, excited. I do know you. You are somebody famous, arent you? He slumped further into his waiting room chair, squirmed and mumbled something. His body language led me to believe that he was allowing as how yes, he was indeed somebody famous.But something told me that he preferred I not slather the walls of the waiting room with my revelation. Then it came to me. I knew it. He was no Mill Valley bartender. No traffic cop. He was Robin Williams! In the flesh. My very own captive Robin Williams. ( a sickening attack of fawning was upon me.) I realized how gauche I had been by pointing and enthusing and apologized for making a scene. Then I stuck out my hand to shake his and he graciously took it. I bent over and whispered close to his once-red sweatshirt. Forgive the rude intrusion, but while I have you right here in front of me, I have to thank you. You are the person who made me laugh the most uproariously in any movie I ever saw (Doubtfire of course) He smiled up at me, said Thanks and chuckled a bit more to himself. I quickly paid my bill. And before leaving the office, I added over my shoulder, And you sure know how to choose a chiropractor!
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 18:33:06 +0000
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