The BRIGHT SPOT Awards: No. 028

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Recipient:

James @ Trader Joe's, Congress Park

We will get to James in a moment. First, a trip in the Wayback Machine.

Woburn, MA, c. 2001:

My poor bashed-up car was at the body shop and I had decamped to a local convenience store to wait for George to finish the repairs. Tiring of my crossword puzzle, I began to observe the cashier at work. A bearded 30-something with a warm smile, greeting customers by name and picking up loose strands of prior conversations: Is your mom feeling better? How'd your daughter do at her game? He asked strangers about their days as well; he was an equal opportunity kindness-spreader. I thought, "This is something special. You may never know his last name, or invite him over for Sunday dinner, but you feel that much better for having been in contact with him. That's the sort of person he is. That's the kind of person I want to be."

The next day I told this story to a regular patron at the coffee shop two doors down from my work. He said, "There's a word for that in Arabic -- it's baraka, which means blessing, and also can refer to the person who's bestowing the blessing. And you are that kind of person."

Back to James: 

We had a funny conversation about my reusable bag habit collection, and the merits of reusable bags as travel souvenirs. When he was done ringing up my purchases, he went on to make friendly inquiries of the next customer: How was your day? Any plans for the weekend? 

Animated. Lively. Chatty. Pleasant. Buoyant. Present. He was a joy to meet.

Later I thought of the cashier from 20 years ago.

Different personalities, same end result -- we crossed paths, and because of you my day just got a little brighter.

Baraka. May we all aspire to this in our own ways.

The BRIGHT SPOT Awards: No. 027

Monday, April 5, 2021

Recipient:

Hans, owner of Deiter's Chocolates, University

I'd actually stopped by here one time before, during my chasing-the-awardee phase. 

Alas, in the time it took me to revisit the cheating/not cheating debate and decide it was OK because (1) I'd been wanting to visit the place since we moved to this neighborhood and (2) I could walk out the door with a truffle and without giving any awards if things didn't progress in that direction, they had closed for the evening.

This time would be different. I made sure to arrive way before closing time. I ran up to the storefront and pulled on the door...which was locked. I looked at the hours painted on the window; yes, they should still be open. I was grappling with the cognitive dissonance of the situation when a man came to the door. Bad news. They closed early that day in order to recover from the Easter rush.

My attempt to not look as crestfallen as I felt must have been unsuccessful because as I turned to go, the man asked me a series of questions:

Had I ever been there before? No.

Was I a milk or dark chocolate person? Dark.

Carmel? Nuts? Yes, yes.

Truffle or turtle? Turtle.

Pecans, walnuts, or almonds? Pecans!

He stepped away for a moment and returned with a gorgeous dark chocolate turtle which he gave to me free of charge.

This, my friends, is real customer service.

I asked him his name and told him I needed to give him something. Spent an awkward few moments juggling the new and improved bit of cardstock, two metallic gel pens, and the turtle (which was eventually chucked into my bag to free up a hand). Hans declined to have his picture taken, though he was happy for me to snap a few quick pics of the store. We said our goodbyes with promises of future visits.

In a last act of kindness, he reminded me to rescue the unwrapped candy from the interior of my purse.

The BRIGHT SPOT Awards: No. 026

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Recipient:

John @ The Chocolate Therapist, Littleton

My friend Stephanie introduced me to The Chocolate Therapist in Littleton, a sweet (literally and figuratively) shop on the main drag. It's wonderful. The scent alone lowers your blood pressure as soon as you step inside.

Because I am a fervent believer in both chocolate and therapy, I was thrilled to realize TCT was a short few blocks away from one of my temp assignments. I vowed to stop being such a ninny and take an actual break away from my desk for a walk and a treat. 

John was at the counter and greeted me. His tone was just marvelous. Deep and resonant and somewhat unexpected in one who was young enough to be my child. (Yes, I know I could easily be mother to a thirty-something. Never you mind.)

Even though I knew people must say it to him all the livelong day, I couldn't resist.

"You've got a great voice."

Yes, not the first time he's ever heard that.

Yes, he has done some voice work -- various YouTube projects to make use of his gift. 

And because he was so pleasant, and because he made me a lovely beverage, and because of that voice, and because he honored me by sharing a bit about himself, and because I am a sucker for cashiers, he was the (lucky?) winner.

The BRIGHT SPOT Awards: Q1 in Review

Yesterday a spring storm arrived.

 

The sodden snow lay heavily across thin branches, causing them to splinter and crack, exposing their buff-colored interiors. 

 
So could have gone my little project, had I let the weight of my intentions and expectations bow its limbs to the ground until they snapped.
 
The original premise:
“For 100 days, if a stranger did anything (directly or indirectly) that made me smile I would give them a little handwritten note thanking them for being a bright spot in my day."

It seemed like I was always interacting with people that way. Surely there would be ample opportunities to give out awards. Piece of cake. Right?

It turns out that when you work from home -- as I had done for 14 years -- you make your own schedule. You can do stuff like take walks in the middle of the day or run errands whenever you please. Conversely, when you sign up for two temp gigs (and one of them is with an accountant during tax season), daylight hours and energy become precious and finite resources.

Time to question and/or bend the rules.

Does it have to be a person?
Does it have to be a stranger?
Does it count if I've gone on an errand to the grocery store in the hope of having a situation arise that warrants the giving of an award?
Does it have to be every single day? 

My workarounds to initial challenges felt like exercises in creativity (why not a ceramic bird? why not a coffee shop?) and perseverance (i have to keep going. there are lots of people who hold down full time jobs while writing their novels or taking their photographs or practicing their art. if they can do it, so can i). 

Then one night I was flinging the front door open to scurry out into the dark when Isaac asked, "Are you going to look for a stranger?" 

He must have heard me say "I have to go out and find a stranger!" a handful of times by now. 

Humor from the seedier interpretations of the phrase aside, I found it sad. 

Absent of spontaneity and joy, the project was reduced to a chore, one at which I felt I was failing.

Talking with Jana and Cecilia (my fellow Women on the Rise) helped me to accept this idea:

A change in scope that reignites the spark of the challenge beats the hell out of a relentlessly dull march through the original plan.

I gave out the rest of the 25 awards on my own schedule. I used the remainder of the month to catch up on my blog posts. I also redesigned the awards themselves to include pre-printed verbiage on the inside:
“This year I’m giving out 100 BRIGHT SPOT Awards whenever a person makes my day a little sunnier. Today, that person is you!"

 
Hopefully, time begets more time.
Perhaps giving myself the year to finish the challenge will let me be in the world again and opportunities for connection can come to me instead of me having to chase them down.

 
Onward and upward.