Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thankful for Randomness

I didn't do a "what I'm thankful for" post on Thanksgiving Day like so many bloggers did.

It's not that I'm not thankful for my family, friends and health, because I am.

But some of the things for which I have been extremely grateful in the past I no longer have, and that made for some poignant omissions as I took stock.

It wasn't even a pity party, just more of an acknowledgement of less to be thankful for than in the past, so why write it up?

But of course, there are dozens of small things that happen all the time which I could be focusing on.

People say nice things to me on a startlingly frequent basis; this has always been the case for me and I have no idea why (friends have suggested it's my aura, but who really knows?).

This morning, for instance, as I passed a guy on my walk:

Him: I see you out here every single day!
Me: Because I walk every day.
Him: That's spunk! You've got some sass and that comes through when I see you.
Me: Use or it lose it, you know.
Him: And on top of that, you are gorgeous.
Me: Thank you.

As I walked away, I thought about how fortunate I am that I get random compliments like that, especially now that I have no significant other to supply them.

And, let me be clear, I am nothing like gorgeous, what spunk I once possessed has been knocked out of me by 2009 and the sass is just part of my personality.

But even so, it was a very unexpected and sweet thing for a stranger to tell me.

I don't know how often such chance things happen to other people, but for me, it's a cosmic bonus when so much else in my life is lackluster these days.

And for that I am thankful, which, I suppose, makes this yet another banal blogger "what I'm thankful for" post.

Sorry to be so trite.

2 comments:

  1. I'm such a cynic. When I receive anything remotely in the way of a complement from a stranger my antenna goes up, my mind races trying to anticipate what the person really wants and I get all defensive in any reply I made. Surely I come off as a jerk but I can't help it. I suspect there are some unresolved childhood issues at play but I haven't figure them out yet.

    gabake01

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  2. Oh, I'm a cynic, too. But I just take the compliments at face value and assume the person wants nothing more than to say nice things to me. I've been called naive for that.

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