...smile

I'd like to say I've always been exceptionally nice, however the truth is that I believe I'm much nicer since I've gotten sick. It has nothing whatsoever to do with my getting sick, however. I just get to move slower now, so I appreciate it.

I move slower and I have smaller crowds. I had large crowds when I was teaching. Very large. It was so hard to get to everyone and stay nice when sometimes students were being rude or manipulative etc and wasting time I wanted to spend with good students  for s change.  

The reason I thought of being nice, actually, is because most people are so unbelievably rude. Rude to people they don't even know (I'm guessing based on things like one was the waitress, ops, server? wait person? and similar situations). 

I'm always looking around for a story idea, something new and interesting, here, there and everywhere,  but all I've noticed is people rushing around stores in a hurry with an attitude,  and we haven't even had Halloween yet! 

At least a Starbucks and cute little coffee houses people are friendly and cheerful. Everyone from the "baristas" to the group of loud young people who ask, "Can we please take this chair?" Which is funny because everyone is all jacked up on caffeine and you'd think they'd be a little edgy. 

I almost always automatically smile at people if I look at them.  Like in Target. We're all about to spend too much money, might as well make a pleasant day out of it, right? Wrong. Only I thought that was a good idea. People looked at me like something was seriously wrong with me! Me? I'm the one smiling! What's wrong with you? It could get ugly.

If I were a scary looking big, frizzy-haired guy and I was smiling at you in Target or Starbucks or walking at the beach- run! You know, the creepy one they always have on Law & Order SVU because he lives under the trains and he see what happens in the park at night.

There are a million reasons not to smile: your tooth hurts, your head hurts,  your feet hurt, your dog's feet hurt, you have bills to pay, you don't like that song...

There are millions more reasons to smile: you love that song,  you feel less pain when you smile, you look more attractive when you smile, you make other people happy when you smile, causing them to smile, too...

Maybe this didn't make as much sense as I would have liked. I promise it did in the draft and in my head. If anything, it probably made you smile :)

peace and love,
sunee