whimsical wednesday!

many stops on the errand list today provided many opportunities to talk to others and have them "tell me about....."

in the garden center section of the home improvement store a lady told me about her ants.  just so happens i have ants too and was looking for the right traps (the right traps being those that contain one of two chemicals; as suggested by the bug specialist at the county extension office).  information i shared with the lady!  we selected the appropriate traps, said good luck with our respective ants and goodbye!

the clerk at the checkout counter outside in the garden center area of the home improvement store told me about what a beautiful day it was (and it definitely was a beautiful day).  then she told me about how hot it was last summer and how she was outside at the counter in the heat all day, all the time;  she wasn't looking forward to that this year!  i wished her mild weather like today all the way until august.  transaction complete i was on my way.

next was the clerk at the checkout counter at the dollar store.  i was purchasing a hard cover book (great price for a dollar!) for my upcoming travel.  she related how great it was to buy a book for a dollar when the man waiting in line behind me wanted to know if i purchased books at garage sales.  sadly, no since i don't go to garage sales.  both the shopper and the clerk told me all about both shopping at and having garage sales.  there was a very detailed account of both.  had there not been more shoppers behind me and the man, we might still be there talking about garage sales!

then there was the teenage girl i talked to in the restaurant.  it was spring break and she told me she wasn't doing anything this week but was glad she didn't have to be in school.  i pointed out that she was at a restaurant in the middle of the day in the middle of the week.  oh yeah, she realized,  she was doing something during spring break.

and the server in the restaurant with the name FON on the nametag!  she told me about her name and how fon is short for a name too long to fit on the tag!  she got a giggle when i admitted that when i first glanced at her tag i thought it read FUN and how cool it would be to be named fun!

while dining, my friend told me about, as a child, going to her grandmother's farm in the country during the summer and how excellent that was for a little girl growing up in the city.  she liked everything about her grandmother's farm; the country, the garden, cooking in the kitchen, picking fruit and making jam, the animals and watching the very tiny black and white television!  she said her grandmother made everything wonderful for them and she loved being there.

my "tell me about......" encounters were mini-stories, which is what i expected.  what i didn't expect was how all of these strangers (save my friend at lunch) just talked to me.  i didn't have to ask anyone to "tell me about....."  anything.  a smile, a question, a comment, a purchase.  all of these sparked the opportunity to share the little stories that creates what we think of as a life.  it was a very enjoyable, whimsical day.  i was so glad to have been "told about it....." with everyone i encountered throughout the day.