SMILE

Thursday was a strange day. It was full of crises, crazies and just down right nonsense. I spent my day putting out fires. I welcomed 5 o'clock with such zeal you would have thought I was still working a Xerox! I went out for dinner with a friend and we wandered through the mall window shopping. I have discovered that I am getting old. I remember the return of a trend! I would have NEVER thought that the shoes from the 80's would have resurfaced, but much to my eternal dismay - they have - and I found myself saying - "I had a pair of boots like that in highschool - I should have kept them they would have been in style again."
Whoa!!!
Yes folks, those words came out of my mouth. I guess you really do become your mother at some point in time - apparently that time for me was Thursday November 9th somewhere around the 8pm mark...

We had fun. It was nice to relax and just chat about something else - anything else!

When I was driving home, I exited the 401 at the Bayview exit and rolled to a stop about 12 cars from the light. There was a homeless man (actually that is a strange term - I don't know that he is homeless - but it seems to be the generic term for people who have a sign and are looking for financial assistance.) That is one of the things that has been happening recently. People stand in the middle of intersections and walk down past cars as they wait for the light to turn green. They usually have a sign something like this:

'homeless and hungry, please help'

But this guy was different - his sign was about 4 feet wide and 2 feet tall and all it said was "SMILE"

Who knows what his situation was, but he is a born marketer. the ends of his sign actually folded in to hide the message and he started walking to each car and unfolded it for each person. I know I thought I would read something like the first sign above, and when he unfolded it with a great flourish and a HUGE grin of his own, I know I had a huge smile on my face. He did ask for change and I did give him some just as the light changed colour. It was a cold night so I went over to the local Tim Hortons and bought him a coffee got a bag with all the fixings, cream sugar, milk, stir sticks, and went to take it over to him. But in order to do that, I had to go back on the highway - the other direction, exit at Yonge St, then get back on the eastbound 401 and exit at Bayview again - cause he was talking to people as they exited the offramp! So I pull up, and he said "back for another smile?"

I said - "yours - yes! but I can't offer you another one - this one hasn't left yet!"

We both laughed, I gave him the coffee and we talked for a few minutes. When the light turned green the chorus of horns behind me forced me onwards.

What an interesting way to end a crazy day, I had someone who society tells us doesn't have much to be joyful, about tell me to SMILE. I'm glad I met him - he had a rather profound effect on me. wow.