Still Learning Stuff

Sunrise, looking west, it was so beautiful.

After my six+ decades, I'm still learning stuff about life and people and how to - well - pretty much how to everything.

The pictures are from yesterday.  It had been several days since I'd been able to be out for my walk. It does so much for my soul!  And I was determined to get out.  The trails hadn't been plowed and were icy in the cold, that bumpy-partially-melted then-refrozen-surface that was a teensy bit treacherous.  But venture out I did.  And I loved it.  (Though my foot didn't, even though I went really slow and careful.)

Icy, slick trail.

The sunrise was lovely.  The sun on that little stretch of trail shows the ice reflection.  And the sunset was absolutely spectacular.  (I'm a real fan of the understatement, but in this case superlatives work best.  It really was amazingly beautiful.  Even the weather guys on the nightly news were showing pictures that people had sent in, so I wasn't the only one making multiple trips out to the front porch to witness nature's beauty.)

So, I was at the grocery the other day, playing leapfrog with a woman throughout the store.  We arrived at roughly the same time, left at roughly the same time.  And I was intimidated.  We were dressed similarly - warm shirt, warm hooded vest, jeans, shoes, purses.  My vest is an old comfy one from LLBean.  Hers? Name brand with real fur around the hood's edge. My jeans? from Kohl's, I like the way they fit my frumpy shape.  Hers? Expensive. Obviously so.  My shoes are the Sanita clogs (years old and bought at a discount store) that I'm wearing pretty much every day to help support my complaining foot.  Hers? Designer boots.  My purse is a bag I treated myself to from the outlet, fairly cheap in the overall scheme of things (I really, really dislike spending money.) Hers? One of those multiple hundreds of dollars a bag name brand. And every time our carts passed she left behind a cloud of expensive perfume. I don't wear perfume, the Husband doesn't care for it, he's sensitive to smells like that.

Stunning Sunset, looking west from our front porch.

It was hard not to feel "less than" when she passed.  I smiled when our eyes met, she barely lifted a corner of her mouth, and I felt instantly dismissed.

I have to keep reminding myself, even at this age, that all that stuff doesn't matter. And I shouldn't judge that that's the way she prefers to spend her money. It doesn't matter whether our stuff comes from Nordstrom's or Target, the Dollar Store or a Thrift store.

The bottom line is we're probably both really nice people.  At least I try to be and hope for that.  I guess what sorta got to me was the sense that I was inferior, a simple smile in return would have been nice. And I hope I've learned the lesson here: that it doesn't matter what I am on the outside, it's what I am on the inside, how I recognize and respect others.

In contrast, on my walk yesterday morning, there was a crew of city employees going around the park with buckets of ice melt they were dispersing on trouble spots to keep people like me from falling. They were dressed for the weather, knit caps, workboots, heavy work coats.  I could see a couple tattoos peeking out from under their sleeves and long, long hair beneath their caps. And without fail, each one I passed gave me a smile and a pleasant good morning, the biggest smile from the skinny one with the shabbiest coat and the longest hair. I should never judge.  I should always be kind.  I should give every soul the recognition they deserve - simply as a child of our Heavenly Father.  Yeah, I"m working on that.

I'm grateful for smiles that indicate a contentment and happiness in life.