Do Talk with Strangers

My good friend Keith is one of my oldest friends as an adult. We met 12 years ago, and to this day he is a friend, a mentor at times, a guy who has been kind enough to help me build furniture when it is too much for me to do alone (especially as he has a cordless screwdriver!), and our friendship is unconditional. I enjoy the times we have spent together alone, with his fiancee Mary Ellen (an wonderful woman too), and even with his children. Keith enjoys many of life's finer things, with the most low-key, down-to-earth attitude. One of his enjoyments is smoking cigars. And every so often I am invited, and encouraged to join him at Nat Sherman 's to lounge downstairs and catch up. Yesterday was one of those days. Interestingly, yesterday was a day I woke up knowing I would be talking with strangers. I was attending a conference put on by IBM's Predictive Perspectives , and as my inner geek loved SPSS in grad school, I was excited to see how IBM was taking this long-ti...

When I was at Kinkos the other day there was a lady there with a brass bell on her messenger bag. As she moved, the bell rang and it was this lovely soothing sound. The little girl inside me immediately thought 'An angel just got her wings'. I could have stopped right there, just enjoying the connection I had with my little girl, but I made a choice. I decided to go a step further, and let her know I liked her bell and my reaction to it. I never expected that I would have an impact on her. What I learned was that the bell was the bell her mother had used for the last four months of her life. Carol (name changed for privacy) informed me she just buried her mother two days ago and just could not let go of the bell and stop hearing it after caring for her 24/7 for four months. As I listened to her story and gave her an outlet for her grief to release, we bonded. Inquiring were I live, (are you in the neighborhood?), she invited me to meet for tea one day and handed me her bu...

Sometimes, talking to strangers does not mean that you have to have a full blown conversation in order to manifest a significantly meaningful outcome. Often even a hello, a smile and a nod of acknowledgment can make a difference in your day - as well as someone else. Last night, what I manifested was deep belly laughter. The kind you often have as a child and seldom have at the same rate as an adult. Laughter is so important for the body, mind and spirit. It seems to be the NYC cosmetic store, Ricky's , number one costume of the year is the Rock'em Sock'em robot. Red and Blue are out in force across the city handing out fliers. Usually I have only spotted one solo, until last night, when there they were two life-size versions of a favorite childhood toy, standing opposite each other at an angle too! I stopped, looked and feeling a large smile fill my face, said to my friend "Look! Rock'em Sock'em robots!" Then I turned towards them and they both t...