Sunny Days Bring Happiness

There is absolutely nothing like being stretched out on a nice comfy sofa in warm flannel pajamas with a sleeping cat by your side. The tranquility of it all is amazing! In addition, I have plenty of nice things that happened today to think about...



To begin with, today was just beautiful. After a couple of weeks of bone-chilling weather, the sun decided to show her strength. I think it may have been in the forties today, but it may as well have been a summer day. The weather was so perfect, I decided to walk to work so I could enjoy it. Granted, the shaded areas were cold enough to make me pull my coat closer, but who needs to go through the shade?!? And of course, a beautiful day makes for beautiful people and beautiful attitudes. I think everyone on the streets was as happy as can be.



I'm still thinking about people helping others. It's not something I've done much of in the past. I'm horrible with strangers and don't like meeting new people, but I think that may be something I can work through. Maybe. Baby steps.



I did get to help out (or try to) a few people today. The first was when I took my hubby's packages to the post office.



Now, I absolutely love the Post Master (Mistress?), or at any rate, the lady behind the counter at my Post Office. She's got a no-nonsense attitude and has a face for every occasion. I know that every time I go to the Post Office, I will get a chuckle and a smile. Today was no exception.



The lady in front of me had come in with the express interest of asking directions. Unfortunately, she went about it all wrong with Ms. Post Mistress. I think the poor lady insulted her by first asking if she (Ms. PM) ever got out into the field or if she was stuck behind the counter all the time. I think she may have thought that being in the office the whole time meant she didn't know the surrounding area. Whether Ms. PM knew where this woman was looking for may be, I don't know, but today's look said everything from "Lady, you are crazy for asking me that!" to "I'm not going to tell you if I knew!" while taking a side trip through "Do you really think I'm that stupid?" The conversation between them wasn't much better.



When I got to the counter with my parcels for post, I got the look I've seen so many times before that showed that this poor woman wore the weight of the world on her shoulders accompanied by a slow head shake and an "Mmm, mmm, mmm..." that only an African-American mother can utter after yet another shovel of woes has been loaded on. Then she broke into a grin and bid me a blessed day, because she knew I would not add to her troubles.



After leaving, I saw the woman walking down the sidewalk not far in front of me. I ran up to see if maybe I would be able to help her find her destination. It turns out she was looking for a shelter and I happened to know of one. I couldn't tell you if it was the same that she was looking for, but I gave her the best directions I could - it wasn't too far away - and left with a smile on my face. I hope I left her with a good feeling toward mankind, also. After all, it was a man who wronged her that caused her to seek this shelter (from the bit of conversation that I remember) and now it was a man who was helping her. That's got to be a satisfactory reason to see that there is some type of good in the world.



A bit of time passes - I needed to get ready for work and got side-tracked by my earlier installation. But I'm brought up to my walk to work.



I live a little over a mile and a half from my job. On a nice day, like today, I would much rather get my excericise and take the walk. I get to go through a park and some nice neighborhoods as well as a small shopping district on my way. All the people I saw seemed to be really enjoying the day. I saw a couple kissing, a man taking a quick nap in the sun on a bench, people walking just a little bit slower to enjoy the weather and prolong the fact that they had to get back to work.



About three or four blocks before I get to work, I pass a little playground with a basketball court. I think it's a attatched to a small school or daycare or something. There was a young mother standing in front of a parking meter with her 2 cute little girls waiting (impatiently) to go play on the swings. I heard Mom say she was digging for a pen to write a note because the meter wasn't working. And my hand in my pocket was resting on - you guessed it - a pen. So I turned around and offered it to her.



Fortunately, she had just surfaced from her purse with a pen of her own, but this is the one where I tried to help. She thanked me and I went on my way, but not before I overheard the older girl ask her why I was talking to her. And I smiled as I heard her say, "That nice man was offering me a pen because he heard that I needed one."



My final good deed for the day didn't happen until later in the evening. An older woman came into my store looking for books about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Apparently, she had called and spoke with one of my associates and was told that we had quite a few books about him. Unfortunately, once she got there, the girl that helped her on the phone could only find one book. I just happened to be passing by as the lady was explaining that she had just driven 40 miles to get to the store, after she had called and was told we had quite a few books, only to find there was just one?!?



This had the potential of being really bad, as anyone who has worked in retail may know.



I sent my young lady over to the Biography section to see if she could find anything there while I set about trying to calm down and help the older lady myself. Together we found another book in the section we were looking in, then I offered to check my computer and see what else we might have. We finally pulled together 2 more books out of the Political section, 2 out of Biography and 3 from the Kids section.



This lovely lady bought them all. She left happy and promised to be back again. And all because, I believe, of one little thing. I was doing my job. Retail is customer service. That involves talking with customers, focusing on them. Show that you are there to care about their needs and their needs only.



I could identify with her... I grew up in a small town that was 30 minutes from EVERYTHING. We didn't go anywhere unless we had a reason to go. You made a trip that was worthwhile - the sum of the purchases was greater than the sum of the gas it took to make the whole trip. Or in another point of view, the value of the time spent in the destination was greater than that time spent driving to and from.



I was able to help this lady feel that her trip was worth it, instead of being a total waste of time.



So I got to feel good about myself for having helped these three women today. It definitely gave me a warm fuzzy feeling deep in the pit of my heart. Kind of like the warm fuzzy bundle slumbering beside me now, feet and whiskers twitching as he chases fairies in his dreams.



And I think it is high time for me to head off to my own slumber and reflect on these good things that have happened and the good that is yet to come.



Sweetest dreams to all...