"Hey gorgeous, smile."
This is the first thing that anyone has said to me all day.
It's eleven o' clock, sunny out, and bitter cold. I'm frowning and wrapped up in my black parka, annoyed at myself and late for work. One week on the job and I'm already finding it a pain in the ass to get to 83rd Street every day.
A young man is looking at me expectantly, pausing in his work of loading the back of a brown van. He's there all the time, a daily fixture on my street, but we almost never talk. There was one time last summer when he told me I looked "real nice in green," but otherwise we've kept our street relationship a simple mix of either a) ignoring one another or b) nodding politely and sometimes saying hello.
But today he's decided to Tell Me To Smile. And he's saying it in such a friendly, eager way that I can't help but crack a grin. He nods encouragingly as my lips turn up, and when I start laughing he smiles back at me.
"There, that's better."
I keep on walking by, almost past him now, but just as I'm about to leave I tell him, "Thanks. I needed that."
His response?
"Anytime. Have a great day."
Sometimes this city isn't so bad after all.
1 comment:
I remember once, about a bazillion years ago, when I was in living in Nashville just after graduation, I had walked to the grocery store ( a fairish haul, 2 miles or so each way)...
It was an odd time, then. I felt alot like a ghost. Most the people I knew had graduated, and the one left... well, it just was *odd* around them. I didn't fit, I was there past my time, and it was time to let it go and move on. I was pretty much alone, and it sucked.
Anyhow, I had gotten almost back to my apartment; I really had nothing to look forward to for the rest of the weekend- I think "glum" would describe things pretty well.
I was standing at a stoplight and a car stopped, waiting to be able to turn left, because traffic was fairly heavy. In the back seat, there was a young woman, maybe my age, maybe a little younger. I don't even remember what she looked like, really...
But to this day, I remember she smiled at me. And that smile made that day better.
A smile can be a powerful thing. As can a simple gesture that makes another smile.
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