I can take so many things for granted and often I plow through the day without recognizing the small gestures of complete strangers. In the past few days, God has given me a heightened sense of awareness to demonstrations of southern hospitality. Before I go on, I am sure that there are areas in the North, East and West, where hospitality is alive and well, because I have experienced it elsewhere. Down here...it continues to be a way of life.
- Two times in one day, I had a young (20 something) man stand at a door, as I crossed the parking lot, to hold it open for me. That indicates that, before entering the store, each young man looked behind him to make sure that there wasn't a woman approaching. (Note: Most men/boys will open the door for a woman, if you enter with them, but having these two men actually wait for me was extra special.)
- As I waited to enter the highway in bumper to bumper traffic traveling both ways, I actually had a driver stop to let me in, holding up all the cars behind him.
- I ran to the entrance of Aldi in the pouring rain, only to realize that I had left my quarter for the cart in my car. I was hoping I could find one in my purse. As I dug through it, a lady offered to run to her car...IN THE POURING RAIN...to get me a quarter. I smiled and explained that I had one in the car. I just didn't want to get wet again. Another lady who had just gotten her cart handed me a quarter with a big smile and said, "I don't blame you." REALLY?? How awesome is that? I passed my cart ("buggy" in southern) on to another customer, explaining that the quarter was not mine to keep. He said he would pass it on as well, when he was done with it. It makes me wonder how long the buggy was passed on throughout the day.
- I approached an awesome parking space at the same time as another shopper. She waved me in.
- I was walking toward my car in a parking lot, digging through my purse looking for my keys, when a woman who had been walking in front of me, heard me exclaim, "Oh...Great!" She turned around, looked at the visible signs of my desperation and asked if I locked my keys in the car. I said I wasn't sure and kept looking. She waited with me, offering suggestions of locksmiths nearby who could help, until I finally realized that I had put them in my pocket...silly me.
- I am Miss Liisa to most children I know, including teenagers, never just Liisa.
- Instead of hearing "what?" when a person doesn't hear or understand, I often hear, "Ma'am?" So much nicer.
- Complete strangers will stop you in the store and ask you for advice on a potential purchase or to compliment you in some way.
- If you are driving or walking through your neighborhood, you wave and smile at everyone that you pass, whether you know them or not.
- You get hugged a lot, which isn't so bad.
- If someone says, "Bless it"...that's not good. For example, if you are having a bad hair day and your friend looks at you and says, "Bless it", it means it's worse than you thought. It's a lot easier to hear though, than "Oh My! What in the WORLD happened to your hair?"
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