The Weight of the Glass 

Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question. 

Well the Falmouth Road Race took place last Sunday. 7 Miles. The distance is simply because the original race, 49 years ago, started at a bar in Woods Hole and went to a bar in Falmouth Heights. This year, after a year off due to the pandemic, about half the number of runners participated.

It was still humid and thousands of people turned out to cheer on runners. I have run under a variety of pseudonyms, ranging from Edward to Eddie. This year, I ran as Ed, and it must be easier to say 'Ed' because I got a lot more shout outs along the way.

In the past, I ran as part of a team of 10-40 runners: all with the same shirts, all supporting the same non-profit. This year I was a team of 1. (Who said there is no 'I' in TEAM? I was lonely, even though there were 6,000 other runners. It was kind of a metaphor for the pandemic, I think. Lots of lonely faces on those Zoom calls. I was a lonely face in a sea of people, wishing I was on a team.

Fortunately for me, I had friends who lived on the route and made me feel welcome and special as I ran by their cheering post, and as I saw them through sweat-streaked eyes, I felt a little less lonely and little more connected. In fact, to be honest with you, stopping to see friends who were cheering for me made my day. It was the best part of the day.

So thank you Bill, and Ellen and Sydnie: the hugs and the high fives made the 19,000 steps I took on Sunday worth it. There is no substitute for encouragement, even for a team of 1.

In the early 80’s, my job required me to travel about 50,000 miles per year, by car, throughout central and southern California. Yes, I had restaurants in Orange County, Hollywood, Santa Barbara, and other glamorous places, but I also had some in South Central LA and other unsavory neighborhoods.

Since these were the days before car phones, I stopped on a regular basis at one of the many banks of pay phones at freeway exits. Many times, they were at a restaurant, like Denny’s or at a budget motel like Motel 6. There would be banks of six, ten, twenty, sometimes more all lined up with sales-people and other territory managers like myself standing in the hot sun in a remote corner of the desert, swatting flies and punching in our phone credit card numbers from memory. (805-987-2305-2994).

If you were lucky enough to get an inside phone, or you knew where one existed, you would schedule a stop there to take advantage of the AC or the shade. Since this was also the time before voice mail, (and email) you’d call the office, report on your location, and take messages by hand from an administrative assistant and then return the calls.

Fast forward to just a couple of years ago. When I first started running, I had finished a run in the center of my town, but without my cell phone and I wanted to call home for a ride. I was new to this running thing and was tired-I had enough. So, I went right into the Mobil Station and asked where the pay phone was located, it didn’t occur to me that they didn’t have one.

So, I went down and across the street a little way to the local convenience store and asked the same question and got the same answer.

Then I went down and back across the street to the health club where there was a pay phone kiosk, without a phone.

Then I went a little further down and back across to Friendly’s, then down and across to Papa Gino’s and down and across to the florist, a Hess station and finally way down and way across to the Honey Farms Convenience store where I found an outdoor pay phone and called home.

I had traveled more than a mile looking for a pay phone on foot.

What happened to the pay phone? I’m here to tell you that it was a terrific idea that had an expiration date sometime when I wasn’t looking. Many of the things we hold dear about our world were innovative ideas at some point back in time.

There is no guarantee that yesterday’s great idea will be around tomorrow. It may not have occurred to you, for example, but just maybe, sooner than later, the cell phone could join the pay phone as obsolete. It could happen. After all, who would have guessed that 8-Track Tapes and Flip Phones would be obsolete? Not me.

Expiration dates don’t just apply to cold cuts, mayonnaise or pay phones.

Ideas, practices, and methods also have expiration dates. It is said so often that it is a cliché, but the best way to prevent becoming obsolete is to change. That applies to our habits and our beliefs and our practices. In today’s world, the pandemic is accelerating change and speeding up expiration dates.

Sometimes changes change, too. I learned the hard way during this story that a pay phone was 35 cents, not a quarter anymore.

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