Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling..... (1)

I started this last year about things that happen to me that uplift me.  Today, I am sharing the 1st one.

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling …..

photo by AVR

Yesterday, as I got off the ‘L’ (for those who aren’t from Chicago – the ‘L’ is the elevated and in places not elevated CTA train system), I heard a shout behind me which I ignored.  The next thing I knew, a tall, young black man was beside me saying, “Excuse me but I’m so happy. I turned 27 today”.  I congratulated him on his birthday as we kept walking.  He was smiling and I caught a whiff of alcohol as he asked where I was going.  I told him that my husband was picking me up to which he replied, “Your husband is a lucky man”.

He repeated that he turned 27 that day and his exuberance was disarming.  When he asked me what age I turned that day, I just said that I was much older than 27.  He said that I looked about 35, for which I thanked him and told him he had made my day.  I am in fact, a short, fat 61 year old white woman (although I see myself as young and skinny).

This young man’s joy at turning 27 was becoming contagious.  He asked if he could get a hug.  I hesitated because my husband of almost 18 years (who for some reason still gets jealous when he sees other men pay attention to me) should have been turning the corner at any minute.  Then I remembered Leo Buscalia’s words, “Hugs not drugs”, and gave him one.

As he went skipping off, I saw our car turning the corner.  I shared the experience with my hubby and I couldn’t forget the unbridled joy this young man radiated and how guarded I had been at first because of the very real threats of violence we face from each other during these times.  I thought about how it is a shame that this is the type of world we are living in, but that moments like these, reaffirm my belief that all is not lost. Change for the better is here and now if we all believe and change the viral meme from violence, hate, fear to joy and love and light.
  

Reflecting on this experience, I realized that this is the kind of thing my youngest son had probably done when he was younger and still might do, i.e. share his joy on his birthday with total strangers and ask for hugs.

There is hope.  Believe it.  Share your joy with someone today or let someone share theirs with you.  Spread the love, for we truly are all one in spirit.   Sometimes I get a good feeling…….