Nice Chatting With You

Day 327

Be kind to strangers. That is sort of the theme of this whole project, so that just what I did today.

In line at the store getting the last few items to celebrate my son's upcoming birthday, I noticed the woman in back of me with three young children buying what was, and continues to be, one of my son's favorite movies, Ponyo. I told this to the woman and she looked pleased/relieved with her selection. I then started chatting with the little girl, who looked about three, about how much my boys loved the movie. She introduced me to her one year old twin sisters in the carriage, and then she informed me that she as a twin brother and he is the only boy in the family. Now, I was fairly certain that the woman with them was the grandmother but, erring on the side of caution, I commented about how challenging it must be for her with four young children. And she said actually she was their grandmother, and confirmed that yes, four children under three was difficult, but a great joy and that she helped out whenever she could. And she thanked me for my movie review.

As acts of kindness go, this was not big, or fancy, or even that interesting. But it is fun for me to notice a slight change in myself over this past year of living kindly. I've found that sometimes, I actually enjoy chatting with people I don't know. I sincerely hope that they have enjoyed chatting back.