Out and About

My darling beautiful Mother-in-law invited our kids over for the afternoon to give me an afternoon to shop and get my last Christmas errands run. My kids were thrilled to be spending the afternoon with her and she had a lot of art projects lined up for them. And cookie making. Always cookie making.

I headed out with my little to do list and actually accomplished a lot more than I thought I would. I also found the perfect little gift for the perfect little someone but I can't say any more than that because she will be reading this. But I'm thrilled with it. I broke a little Christmas rule but she breaks the rules every single year. And I was able to get some family photos printed out and mailed to my Nana and Pop. They should arrive at their doorstep before Christmas.

So the funniest thing happened today as I was deciding where to park at the mall. I wanted to try for the prime location right out in front because I had a few presents in the trunk for my kids and I thought that they would be safer if I parked in a crowded area. Now these spots are never available. Never! But I thought I'd try. So I was sitting in my car waiting behind another car who was waiting behind another car. I wasn't in a big hurry and was just beginning to question why I thought that I could get in with a prime spot. And then this woman walked by me. She motioned to me that she was heading to her car a couple of cars ahead of me. I thought, "oh how nice of her but the car in front of me will get that spot". So I smiled at her and waved thanks. So guess what she did. She faked out the car in the front of me. She walked to a car right in front of me and paused as if getting in. The car in front of me drove on forward because there wasn't room for them to get into the spot. And then, the woman suddenly weaved further down, gave me a smile and pointed to her car, and then pulled out giving me direct access to the spot. I couldn't believe it. I pulled up and rolled down my window and said thank you. She said that she understood the pain of having to wait for a spot and that she was happy to do it. I thanked her again with a huge smile and a wave and the feeling of, "wow, I don't know why she picked me, but that was such a cool thing to do". Well cool for me. I guess not so cool for the car in front of me.

After I finished my shopping, I decided to treat myself to a nice little sandwich. I had my new book from the library with me and thought that it would feel so nice to just sit and have some quiet time for about a half and hour. I order the Chipotle Chicken sandwich. Of course. Because anything with chipotle on the menu speaks to me every single time. And then I realized that I didn't have a blip for today. What better thing to blip than a little bit of chipotle. So I found a window spot. Arranged my shot, took out my camera and took three photos before my battery died. I noticed a nice older gentlemen smile my way after spotting me photographing my lunch.

As I was leaving, the same gentleman sitting nearby with a group of friends said to me, "I've never seen anyone photograph their sandwich before". I just started laughing. "I know" I told him. "I do things like this sometimes". He was getting a kick out of the conversation so I briefly described the idea of taking a photo a day and pairing it with journaling. The whole table loved the idea. And I walked out of the little cafe with another smile on my face.

Two special little stories from this afternoon. Little conversations and acts of kindness that just seem to fuel me. I love interacting with nice and kind hearted people. I always have. I'm the person who always hopes I will run into someone I know when I'm at the grocery store. It's just one of those things for me. And that is why I always try to pay it forward by holding doors and so forth when I am out because I know how much those gestures always mean to me.