I had a great weekend and, well, had a little inspiration to write. I was driving in my car this morning and a memory popped into my mind.
♫It was 20 years ago today…♫♫♫ (Beatles -Sgt Pepper moment) I had a job interview in New York City, I don’t recall much about the interview but I remember visiting the corner deli in Floral Park for a dark and flavorful Hazelnut coffee and perhaps an egg sandwich before boarding the train for a 40 minute ride into New York’s Penn station.
Again, I don’t remember much about the interview, it could have been my interview with the NFL. I spent half my day meeting people of several different departments and IT staff. They took me through a battery of interviews and skill assessments. During the interview process, they gave me a lunch break. I went to lunch with one of my friends who worked for them and after lunch, it was back to interviews. My last interview was with the IT Trainer. They took me into a training room and had me open up various Microsoft Office applications and wanted to see if I had a good understanding of each product. At the time I only had an elementary knowledge of Microsoft office but everything they asked me to do was a breeze!
After a long day of interviews, I looked forward to getting out of my monkey suit. With the travel and length of the interview, I was exhausted towards the end of the day. I was pleasantly surprised to get a seat on the train, it was an aisle seat towards the middle of the train. I was a bit tired and probably staring off into space. I looked up at some point down the aisle of the train and someone was smiling in my direction. “Why is this person looking at me and smiling?” I wondered to myself as my eyes shifted nervously back to my newspaper. I looked up again, “Ack! She is still smiling and looking my way, maybe I will look over my shoulder, maybe she is looking at an advertisement that are located behind me by the train doors? Maybe she is smiling at someone else?” but when I realized there was nothing much going on behind me, I retreated to looking down at my newspaper again! But human nature being as it was, I looked up again… a smile appeared on her face…
I’m not sure how long this went on during this trip but at some point I lifted my head up, she smiled and that would be the last smile she offered. I think when I started looking back down again (but kept my eye on her) a frown appeared on her face. I never smiled back!
I thought of this moment this morning. It is not uncommon for me, when I am in my “zen”, to smile at people when I am out in public. I can walk through the supermarket, give someone an unconditional smile and sometimes I get a smile in return. It’s a pretty good feeling!
So, to that girl who smiled at me 15-20 years ago on the train from NYC to Long Island, I’m sorry I did not acknowledge your smile! I apologize for not returning the favor. It was an introduction that I was too shy to acknowledge. What seemed so unusual at that time, seems like pure genius today. Thank you!
For the rest of you. smile or be conscious of smiling back 🙂
Just in case brother Keith deletes my comment on his blog.
“8 May 2018 at 5:04 pm
David, i think Keith is just ignoring my comments because he doesn’t want to admit he understands the difference, or he doesn’t want to admit that He’s going with his false narrative anyway. Either way… it’s dishonest. Glad to meet you by the way brother david.”
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He still hasn’t answered.
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He hasn’t even addressed my response, probably because he knows he painted himself in a corner.
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Honesty admits when one is wrong. Dishonesty avoids responsibility. Brother Keith is dishonest
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He just posted an ‘answer’ to my original question, but the post title and content doesn’t match my original question.
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Hi David,
I enjoyed this posting and knowing your response to a long ago event in history past. It’s amazing, isn’t? The small encounters we have with people every day and how they shape us? It’s a beautiful thing.
Be kind and good and all kinds of wonderful.
P.S. I never told you but I really appreciated your meaningful comment on my “If You Were a REAL Christian, You Wouldn’t Doubt” post I wrote about 9 months ago. I always wondered about you afterwards. If you were okay or not and if we could’ve been friends. Nonetheless, smile, David. 😊
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Hi Rulonda, sorry for my late reply, I was traveling to and from NY.. my birthday present to myself 🙂
One night I got back to the hotel and I was sitting out front and made small talk with someone… I’m not sure how religion follows me, lol, but this particular person started talking about being angry with her church. I won’t get into details but life is funny that way.
I’m doing okay, life is kind of crazy. I always have ideas for my blog but I never get through the “Draft” stage. Funny how “Story4Today” hasn’t had any stories lately 🙂
Enjoy your day!
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I hope you enjoyed New York, David. Church seems to make a lot of people angry these days lol. I’d encourage you to try and get past the “Draft” stage, even if it’s just random sputtering, at least you’re putting something on the page, right? I hope you’ll write again soon.
Have a good day, David. 😊
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Great writeup, David! A smile can do wonders. I do believe people can put smiles on our faces because they have something to smile about, and now so do we! Here’s to smiling big and smiling often! Also, thank you again for your input regarding my “Having mental illness alone vs. having mental illness and being a Christian” post. Christianity is given a bad name and it has something to do with the fact that humans are imperfect. I don’t follow any humans for this reason. Have a great day!
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