A few days ago at work, I was having one of those days where I was sort of in a rut, and just couldnt break out of it. Nothing terrible, mind you. Just being grumpy, I suppose. As I made my rounds, I saw a group of three elderly Filipino couples (they looked to be in maybe their early to mid 70s) who were taking pictures of themselves in front of a statue. One would take a picture of the rest of the group, then he would hand the camera off to someone else so he could get in the next picture. I offered to take the photo for them so they could all be in the picture together. One of the grandmothers said, No! Dont take the picture! Come and be IN the picture with me! Some customers standing nearby giggled, but the womans companions just smiled nicely and nodded their heads. They stepped out of the way and pulled out their cameras. I found myself posing for this impromptu paparazzi crew, alone with this grandmother, while her friends all excitedly took several pictures of the two of us. (Its not unusual at work for people to stop me and ask me to take pictures with them ... Im very handsome, after all hahahaha Naaaah! I know the truth is that they are taking picture with my stomach! Especially our Chinese customers ... Ooooh! Looka Da beeeg Polynesian!) hahaha Anyway, after what seemed like a LOT of pictures, I looked over at my new friend, and noticed that she was crying. I thought, Oh no! What did I do? She held both of my hands in hers, looked up at me and said, You remind me of my grandson ... He was big and strong and kind like you. She kissed my hands and wiped her tears, then turned and began to walk away. Her husband, who was small man (maybe a good foot shorter than me -- not helped by his back being hunched over slightly) put his arm around my back and said softly, She misses him. He was a big boy, like you. He was supposed to come with us on this trip, but his cancer got worse, and he passed away about a month ago. I muttered some feeble words of condolences and said how sorry I was. While small in stature, I could feel this mans strength as he shook my hand and squeezed it tight. Boy, he said with a bit of a quiver in his voice, as if he was fighting back a swell of emotions, Be good! And do good things with your life! He smiled, patted me twice on the back, and with that, was off to catch up to his wife and their friends. All of a sudden, the things I had been grumbling about earlier in the day, felt so small and insignificant. With this simple experience, that probably took all of about two minutes, my entire outlook on the day had changed. Theres not enough time to worry and stress out about petty little things, as I had been doing earlier that morning. Our time here is so short! We need to concentrate on doing good things with the time weve been given. Im grateful for this reminder, taught to me by a sweet Filipino grandmother, her husband, and their grandson who Ive never even met. Salamat po!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:07:20 +0000
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