Eyes Wide Open

Yesterday I was standing in line at the library when a toddler with these gorgeous, going-to-break-a girl's-heart-one-day big brown eyes turned to me, his face slowly widening in a huge, welcoming grin that went right up to his eyes. His whole face was lit up with such beauty. It felt so good to smile back. His sister, noticing our exchange, came and ushered him in closer to his mom. Right up against her legs. The mom looked up at me and smiled, too.

I stopped at my regular lunch place and the young woman behind the counter tells me she should know already what I order. I watched as she moved slowly and deliberately through making my sandwich. I thought to myself that's how I move when I'm in pain. She seemed a little slow on the uptake and just not quite herself. A few minutes later I was eating when I heard her tell another regular customer that she's diabetic and her blood sugar was crashing, so she was having a hard time concentrating on their order. Ah, mystery solved.

When I got to the checkout line in the grocery store my cart was piled high, a huge 36 roll package of toilet paper balanced precariously on top. A young man stepped into line behind me with just a carry basket of items. I told him he could go through ahead of me. He protested a little and then took me up on my offer. I watched as he unloaded his basket and wondered if he was making a quick supper for young kids or if he was just stocking up on a few things to eat while vegging in front of the TV. As I was unloading my overflowing cart an item fell backwards to the floor. The woman behind me looked stoney faced from it to me and then stared straight ahead. I instantly judged her for not bending down and helping me out. Then I cut her some slack. Who knew what life is dishing out for her. Must.not.be.good. I had to say excuse me as I bent down to pick the fallen box up; she was standing that close to my cart. As I manouevered my load to the car items fell off the cart several times. It is impossible to drive over 8 kg bags of dog food when they slide off into the snow, but you can push them ahead of you unawares for a long while until someone says, "M'am? Your dog food fell off." Oh, so that's why this cart was so hard to push through the slushy snow. Who needs a weights workout when they can push dog food around? My thighs are complaining this morning from the effort.

It's a new day. I am feeling sluggish and my heart is doing its race around the park. Hopefully it will slow down and then I can speed up. This afternoon I'll be going with a friend to visit an old time neighbour who I've never met. Neighbours in my neck of the woods can live miles away but they are still neighbours. Tonight there are 700 envelopes to stuff for a mail out I do for an organization 4x a year. Thankfully a group of friends will help get the job done faster. They need to be in the mail tomorrow. The letters, not the friends, that is!

Life is good.