Wonderful Moments in Strange Places
You don’t often hear “I love you” in a tire store. In fact, in all the hours over all the decades I’ve spent waiting for repairs or replacements in tire stores, I’ve never heard it. Not once. Not particularly surprising, when you consider we’re not in the lightest or most romantic of places.
But the day did have several things going for it. It was a warm, sunny Friday working into a beautiful Fourth of July weekend. A pretty young woman sitting in one of the many waiting chairs in this sterile little waiting room was on the phone discussing her predicament. After all, you’re not in a tire store unless you have a predicament.
Anyway, after getting the requisite advice, she finished her call with a little giggle, a smile, and an “Okay, thanks, I love you.”
We’re here in this rather drab, nondescript, most unlikely of commercial establishments. One where tempers are sometimes tense, where voices indicate rush or strain, and where words seldom are spoken with overtones of kindness or appreciation. Yet, there it is, amidst two momentarily silent service reps clacking on keyboards, six sullen waiting male customers and another phone pre-occupied female, this delightful little ray of sunshine expressing her gratitude to her caller with three simple words, out loud, with no thought about those around her. An expression both spontaneous and sincere, just like it’s supposed to be.
I had to smile to myself. It reminded me so much of how conversations go within my own family. No matter how they begin, no matter the ribbing or the inevitable opinions or advice, they always end with ‘I love you.’ And I love that. Right at this moment, it reminds me I planted a good seed when I made a point of saying ‘I love you’ to each of my boys every night at bedtime. It’s one of the good things I look to when I wonder if I’ve had an impact. It just makes this little vignette more powerful for me.
That little moment was the highlight of my day. And she didn’t even know it. Not the slightest idea she had impacted someone else’s day with such a remarkably easy affirmation. And it had rolled off her tongue exactly as it should, as we imagine “I love you’s” should. As we always want them to.
What a wonderful day. Easily the best one I’ve ever spent in a tire store. Just goes to show you never know where serendipity will find you. And I love that, too.
