Small things

Saturday 1/20/24

Some small things from today that I have liked and found warming.

Was at the cafe a while ago making notes for things I must do and two recovering alcoholics sat down at the table next to me. They were in their twenties--friends, but friends in this regard, for the occasional coffee and support. One of them had said that since they'd last seen each other he'd dropped twenty pounds. They talked about AA meetings they'd been to, but separately. The other guy described how this other person began a recent meeting by saying he had relapsed, and it was very hard to hear. As I said, they were supportive of each other, had a role in each other's lives, even if they communicated or got together infrequently, and whether or not that is a small thing--it may be a very big thing--it makes one smile.

I was at Haymarket, which is a free-for-all. The vendor asked me what I wanted, and I said that this woman down the end of the table was there before me. Well--you'd think I'd done her a great service the way she reacted. Several hearty thanks yous. As I suggested, Haymarket isn't exactly finishing school, so this idea that I didn't see to myself first was probably surprising.

When I was entering the cafe, I held the door for a woman holding a large box from Amazon. We got inside, and she told me to go before her in line, and I said, no, I'm all set, you go ahead, and again, you'd think I'd just handed her a hundred dollar bill. Are people really that rude, typically? I know the answer, of course, but, again, it's a small thing that does make a difference in a day. It was nice of her to offer to let me go.

While running the stairs at City Hall today, a man came over to me and said, "You crazy motherfucker! Good luck, bro," on account of the cold. But it was not that cold. 16 degrees, no wind. People of all ages were out. Some didn't even have hats or gloves on--by choice, not because of poverty. Still, one admires the supportive enthusiasm, I suppose, even if it was couched in a bit of disapproval, but the upbeat, "good for you, though" type, which also translates to, "You wouldn't catch me fucking doing this." That's fine.