Blood Pressure

I dine alone at Coco’s

order from the over 55 menu

not only because the food is good

but it’s only $5.99 for a whole meal

sourdough bread

with butter and blackberry jam included.

All my $300 Eileen Fisher and Ellen Tracy suits

have found other lives in others’ closets

thanks to Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

My 4 inch stiletto open toed feet

showing burgundy polished toes

are now covered properly with Lifestride ballet flats

making me officially 4 feet 10 and 7/8 inches tall

instead of the 5 foot 2 that I’ve put on doctor’s charts

all those years.

I wonder out loud, to no in particular

knowing that rare is the friend

who listens without comment

to what is in your heart…

Hey, but my blood pressure is 120/72

I take no prescription drugs and at sixty-six

my doctor tells me that at least

I can look forward to twenty more years of Sundays

eating brunch alone.

Sara Fryd