In a vain and fruitless effort to buy tart cherry extract to treat my hip and knee pain, which my doctor reckons is arthritis, I forced myself to walk (hobble?) downtown to buy it at the health food store… which was closed. Not supposed to be closed, but closed notwithstanding. (How many times do you get to type that word?)
But here’s the mysterious part.
As on my weary way I trod, three different persons, none of whom I know even slightly, smiled at me in passing and said “Hi, how are you?” Totally unexpected. Also totally nice. I didn’t get my cherry but I did get three friendly greetings.
Have I suddenly taken on a more harmless and benign appearance? Does more of the old spirit of this town survive than I thought? I remember (five years old) going downtown with Grandma–one hand for me and one for her cart–and seeing all sorts of people stop and exchange greetings with her. It was a lot easier, back then, to know almost everybody in the town.
Anyway, it was nice and I’m glad I didn’t miss it.