I am feeling very happy because I am having some home improvements done on the outside of my house. It is beginning to look less sad and more cared for. However, I would not have thought, until now, that there would be any other positive effects.
I was talking with one of the workers….I’ll call him Dan. He was giving me information about what he was doing, replacing some rotting wood of the fascia under my roof. At the end of his work-day, I decided to ask him about himself. He told me he was from Ethiopia and that he had been in Canada for about three years. I also learned that houses in Ethiopia are made of concrete and not at all like ours in Canada. Dan enjoys what he is doing and finds that he is never short of work for renovations or carpentry.
Then I asked if he had family here. His eyes immediately lit up and, with a big smile, he told me he had a wife and a son who was three years old. His wife was pregnant, due to deliver a little sister for his son any day now. I saw the joy in his face and immediately it brought back memories of when my own son was three or four years old and I was waiting for the birth of my little girl. In an instant, I was transported back to that time in my life and was able to share the joy he was feeling. We were connecting as friends and I had genuine understanding of his happiness.
Dan probably did not realize he was giving me this beautiful gift of his joy and enabling me to bring back my own happy memories. I hope it worked both ways and that his day was made a little better by sharing his story with someone who wanted to listen.
It is amazing to me that, because I decided to ask one little personal question, I made a new friend and the result was that my day was more joyful too! What a nicer world it is when we take a chance to open up to a stranger and that stranger becomes a friend.
There is something quite spiritual about this encounter, although, on the surface, it seems like such a small thing A connection between people can happen in an instant. I know that it happens all the time but sometimes, in our busy lives, we fail to notice. I am glad I noticed.
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