the adorable little man

So, today this adorable thing happened. I went to the vein doctor. That's not the adorable part. While I was patiently waiting to get a sonogram of the lovely(not) dysfunctional vein on my right leg, which is soon to be history, a little man and his wife came out from behind the doors sealing off the actual doctor's office, the inner sanctum if you will, from the waiting room, where I sat. The man had those miserable compression stockings on both legs and he walked with a cane. But did these facts bring him down? Nope. He was smiling right and left. He was pouring his smile out onto everyone. He must have been in his eighties. His wife cheerfully walked behind him carrying all the paperwork, her big purse and a huge reusable sack, now empty.

It took this couple about ten minutes to get out the door because they were hugging the various nurses, clerks and assistants. They were chatting away about recipes and thanking everyone profusely. On the way out through the waiting room, they ran into the male nurse and, even though he hadn't even helped them, they asked him did he want a cookbook, apologizing for having run out of them and promising to bring him one on their follow-up visit in a couple of weeks. After they left, the place seemed empty.

When I got into the room for the sonogram, the technician, Shelia, was actually dabbing her eyes, telling me that she'd just had possibly the nicest patient of her life in both the older gentleman and his wife sidekick. On her counter sat a cookbook and a huge jar of salsa. The cookbook is the man's collection of all the recipes he's created over a lifetime. His wife was the typist. The salsa he'd made that morning (which means he must have gotten up at dawn to do it because his appointment was early), giving it out to everyone he encountered in the office, about ten staffers. He gives his cookbooks and food out for free just to make people happy.

Shelia confessed to feeling guilty because she had not been excited to see an elderly gentleman on the schedule first thing this morning, as such patients are often crotchety or sullen, but instead she'd met one of the most precious couples on Earth and now she was inspired to emulate them (though I thought she was super-nice already). But, the point is, look what a difference kindness can make. Everyone in the office was talking about the couple and had brighter days because of them.

I wish I'd had my camera along to snap the couple's photo. Instead here are two shots of the Texas sage bush at our neighborhood park. I've never seen it so lush as it is this year, which is something else to be cheerful about.