I've done Black Friday once. Just. Once. I will never do it again. The insanity in the stores isn't worth the price breaks to me. I like to do my shopping on weeknights. The stores are quieter, the sales people are more relaxed and I am not rushed. I can concentrate on what I'm doing, maybe even have a good conversation with the few people who are there.
I like meeting and talking to people. You never know what you will learn about them and yourself. This past summer, I was sitting at a favorite haunt that for reasons left unsaid I have avoided for several years. I decided on a spur of the moment to go back. It was a beautiful day, a Friday, and I was in the mood for a drive, and the pastry at the bakery shop! I picked up some lunch at the cafe and sat at a table under this huge tree and just enjoyed. As I got up to leave a woman who had been sitting at the table next to me blurted out something that sounded like it's a shame to leave such a beautiful place to go back to work. Something about the way she said it stopped me. I looked at her and saw something. Don't know what, just something. I replied that I was lucky, I didn't have to go back to work and was just going to throw away my garbage and come back and just sit there for a while. One thing led to another and I sat with her. For almost two hours.
Now I have always been told that I'm the type of person that is easy to talk to. If there is one trait in you that you need to be proud of for lack of a better description, then this is mine. People just gravitate to me and start talking. About everything. And I love that. Not because I'm nosy. But because I'm approachable. And if someone needs to talk, about anything, and I can be there for them, then let's make a pot of coffee and have at it.
Apparently this woman was facing a decision that she couldn't make. She needed a sounding board and it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. As we talked I could see her face and her eyes change. She was no longer frowning and looking around everywhere with that deer in the headlights look. She started to relax. She said she had never in her life just up and spoke to a stranger like she did when she blurted out her comment but that something about me made her do it. I just smiled, said thank you and that I hope I was able to help.
We exchanged phone numbers and talked once or twice but then my phone had a fit of some sort and I lost her number. I hope she is doing well.
