mrissa | In which we surprise each other with small kindness.

I am having one of those weeks where I am very carefully enumerating the good things and calling them my precious, because if I don't hold onto them, they slip away kind of quickly with the rest of this week's stuff. And I know lots of you are having one of those weeks, too, so I thought I would tell you one of my good things, and maybe you will tell me one of yours.

I was at the grocery store yesterday, having drawn the "most capable of getting groceries" straw by process of somewhat sad and pathetic elimination, and we had reached the part where M---, one of the baggers I know, was bagging my groceries.

M---: Do you mind if I make the bags kind of heavy? They'll hold a lot, but some people don't want them heavy.
me: Go ahead. I'm strong even when I'm feeling gimpy.
M---: I always thought that about you.
me: Why, thank you, M---!

Seriously, I was touched. This is a thing people almost always underestimate about me, even though I am

sksperry's favorite Valkyrie. I think because I am femme and a nerd? I don't know. But it has been one thing after another, and then my bagger always thought I was strong? Okay. Okay. Yes. I can keep that. Anyway, so M--- kept bagging my groceries in my sturdy cloth bags that I love, and he was not sure he was going to get them into two tubs of bags to go out to the pickup lane.

M---: I don't know, I don't know. Can I do this? I don't know.
me: I believe in you, M---.
M---, looking up from his bagging in surprise and utter sincerity: Thank you!

Maybe M--- was having one of those weeks, too. Maybe he wasn't. He has some challenges in life, and hey, don't we all. But one of his regular customers believes in him, and he always thought she was strong. So hey, that was a ten minutes at the check-stand well spent on both sides.

How about you? What small thing went right for you this week?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sartorias.livejournal.com

Six lilies! Most I've ever had.

Looking up from my book to discover three dogs pressed against me.

From:

cathshaffer.livejournal.com

"and he was not sure he was going to get them into two tubs of bags to go out to the pickup lane."

Tubs? Pickup lane? What is this sorcery?

Here is my good thing. I think you'll enjoy it. We went to eighth grade graduation last night, because Glen, a seventh grader, is in the band, and he helps play the music. Our school has a very personalized graduation ceremony. Each graduate gives a speech or makes a tribute. Most of them choose a short speech thanking family, teachers, and friends, but some of them make a more creative presentation. Examples include singing, playing music, reading poetry, and performing a tumbling move. The whole thing is very touching, particularly since the kids are a bit too young to have learned adult filtering techniques, so their words were often unexpectedly honest, and thereby powerful.

The last student to make his presentation had an unusual request. He said a few words, and then stepped off the podium to the side where each of the three middle school teachers were standing by with cream pies. On the count of three, all three teachers pied him. Happy graduation!

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

At Byerly's, you do not take your cart out to the car with you. They put the bags in tubs, and they put the tubs on a conveyor belt, and the conveyor belt takes it out to the pickup lane, where you drive up and they load it for you, wherever you like in your car.

This is not the case if you have little enough to carry it out by hand and walk or drive home with it, of course. But if you have more than that, for whatever that means for you or however many people you are shopping with, they will load it for you under the nice covered bit. Also they have umbrellas that you can take out to the car with you and then give back at the nice covered bit where they load your groceries.

I do like Byerly's. It's...nice.

From:

cathshaffer.livejournal.com

Wow! Your people have achieved much more technological advancement in grocery shopping than mind.

From:

judith-dascoyne.livejournal.com

I have always loved my trips to Byerly's the few times I have had the opportunity to go, usually for wild rice soup at the restaurant there.

Yes, I think I am having a very tiny 'I wish I lived in Minnstipl.
(I am now puzzled as wonder why I do not wish for a Byerly's in Boulder. Maybe because we have a McGuckins. You can't Push these things to far you know.)

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

I think the thing is, Byerly's is so very Minnesota. You could want a Byerly's as far as Duluth, I think, or Albert Lea. You could want a Byerly's in Bemidji or possibly Moorhead. I mean, most of it is just groceries and you can get groceries wherever you like, good quality groceries hurray. But then there are things like the wild rice soup and the lefse and like that, where somewhere else people would puzzle at them and go, "What are these?"

The most asked-after item in the Lund's on Lake St. is barley. Which tells you that a) Lund's/Byerly's shelves their barley crazily in every store, seriously what, but also b) lots of people are showing up wanting barley. Which...is kind of a thing.

From:

cathshaffer.livejournal.com

Here in Michigan the food trucks come and dump piles of food--fresh produce, packaged meats, canned goods, boxes, etc.--on a series of tarps in an open field. Us shoppers then rush the piles and try to pick up as much as we can carry. As we run out of the area, scanners pick up our bank account information from RFID chips implanted in our flesh, and deduct the cost of the food from our company accounts. Each week, our paychecks are somehow never enough to cover the costs of food and housing so that we can start saving up to buy our freedom. But someday we will do that and we will move to Minnesota where the groceries roll out to your car on magical futuristic conveyer belts. In tubs!

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

Well, in the meantime you can visit.

I should say that some Lund's/Byerly's, in the parts of town where space is more at a premium, do not have this system. Instead they have people come out to your car with you and help with your groceries, and you are not allowed to tip them. I did not initially understand this, because I was grieving and getting groceries for a friend who was grieving, and so I thought the lady who was firmly refusing my tip and making the other person refuse my tip was refusing my tip. But no, it's everybody's.

From:

anef.livejournal.com

You made me laugh! Thank you.

From:

elisem.livejournal.com

The shoe repair people did the final bit of stretching that will make my new shoon possible to wear, and I picked them up yesterday. The thing that went right: although I had the wrong paperwork, all went well and there was even humor. I apparently got the wrong claim ticket into my pocketbook, so I had the claim ticket from the pedorthist/prosthetics lab people who did the buildup on the left shoe, rather than from the shoe repair folks here who stretched out the parts in both shoes that were cramping my mutant little toes. I went in to pick up the now-stretched shoes, pulled out the claim check, and the guy said, "This isn't our claim check." I looked stricken, I imagine, and he looked closer at it and said, "Well, it is a shoe repair claim check. But it's not ours." Then he said, "Have you been cheating on us?" in a tone that cracked me up entirely. I explained that it had probably been the claim check from the prosthetics lab and I had put it in my pocketbook by mistake. We both laughed. Then he went and found my shoes, and we were all good.

Might not sound like much, but I get all flustered when I get the wrong paperwork, and it was so nice that the guy just turned it into a kind of shared joke.

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

The things that do not sound like much are sometimes much.

From:

yhlee.livejournal.com

I have discovered that lemon curd + Devon cream + English muffins satisfies me more than lemon curd + Devon cream + scones, which, yum! Also good because scones are a pain to get and I am the world's worst baker.

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

Scones are a pain to get? I am deeply sorry.

From:

madmanatw.livejournal.com

I can tell you what went right for me just now. I was at work, and went to grab my jacket, when I made a realization. The reason I had previously stopped wearing this jacket was that it had a hole in the pocket. I learned this last time because my car key fell out through the hole and I wound up having to retrace my steps that day to find them. (They were under my mailbox.) I forgot about this. Having been at work for an hour, I realized I was missing my car keys.

So I walked back home by way of BART, carefully watching the path I had taken on my bike ride in. I got back to my driveway and I found my key, in one of the more likely locations for it to be- the spot where I mounted my bike. Which was under 2 feet from the car it unlocked.

So. Aside from the part where that whole thing went horribly wrong, I'd say that went right for me. Also I'm going to patch the jacket now.

From:

aamcnamara.livejournal.com

This past weekend, my-roommate-from-college (who was in Cardiff all semester) came to London and we gallivanted about. A series of things went right for us, but one of the nice ones was late Sunday afternoon, when we were both tired and hungry and I had forgotten to write down the address of Forbidden Planet, so we were just wandering around in that area aimlessly. Roommate stopped to get food, and then (when I had just given up) suggested we walk one more block down the street we were on.

Presently, as I hopelessly followed down the street, I heard, "What does the Forbidden Planet logo look like?" And I looked up, and said, "What, you mean that logo...on that store...that says 'Forbidden Planet' on the front? Oh. Yes, I think it might look very like that."

And then I bought three books.

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

"And then I bought three books" is a way better ending than "and then I found five bucks."

From:

blue-hat-guru.livejournal.com

That depends on how much cash you have on hand.

From:

aedifica

I have been having some discussions that are sad to have to have, but which have been going very well with great civility on all sides (even more civility than I expected, which is saying something) and with agreement on some topics I didn't expect we'd agree on.

From:

reveritas.livejournal.com

JD took me to Caltrain early and I was all set to wait and the train was two minutes early! And I would have been so mad if I had missed it! Not to mention screwed for getting to work on time.

I'm imagining M--- as a teenager. Maybe that's wrong. Maybe he's like 40.

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

My best guess is mid-twenties.

From:

redbird

I took a walk this morning, and had stopped to pick some mulberries from one of the trees in the park.

A woman saw me, and asked "Are they sweet?" I said yes, and added "you want the really dark ones." I clarified that these were mulberries (she had said "blueberry," I think a slip of the tongue rather than real confusion) and reiterated that the ripe ones are dark purple, not red. As she walked on, I thought "sharing the wealth" and ate a couple more berries.

(Yes, some mulberries are white when they're ripe; I don't usually gather those because I have a harder time identifying the ripe ones.)

From:

chinders.livejournal.com

I can do multiple sets of pushups! I have been working towards that for a while and feel very accomplished.

That said, I wish that physical progress were more linear. It would be easier to tell if I was Doin It Right.

From:

catlinye-maker.livejournal.com

Today, my friend who I know mostly online kindly sent me a virtual hug and some chat when I was sitting in the waiting room and freaking out about my husband undergoing surgery. It was mightily needed and gratefully received.

From:

gaaldine.livejournal.com

Hmmm . . . I always think of you as strong. Seems strange to me that someone wouldn't. Strong, stubborn, determined: that is Marissa.

Today's small thing that went right: the wee one is taking a 2.5 hour nap. Many days I can barely get her to take a 30 minute nap, so this is a great happiness. This week thus far she has also given us two nights where she slept for 7+ hours straight. She seems to think it playtime afterward (which I don't necessarily appreciate at 5 a.m.), but still, 7 hours straight at 2 months isn't too shabby.

From:

mrissa.livejournal.com

I think mostly the size differential goes the other way with other people, and they're more likely to think of strong as a metaphor if they're thinking of someone as small than if they're thinking of her as their own size or bigger. Alas.

Go sleepy baby.

With my workout today I watched the episode of Bones in which her best friend Angela gives birth. It was a terrible episode and horribly written--like most of that season--and I got a little snuffly anyway because it was close enough to the wee one's arrival that I am still Susceptible.

From:

takumashii.livejournal.com

I went to do library outreach at the school. Now, the school and the library are not getting along right now because of a high-level management fiasco, and all the kids are getting ready for their Regents test, and what with this and the other thing I only managed to do outreach to a handful of classes.

So after the school librarian had vented to me about aforesaid fiasco, I came out in the hall and I heard a girl say, "That's her! Go ask her!" and the boy she was with asked me, "Is it true you can get your library fines forgiven?" and I said "Yeah" and I explained what he had to do. And he gave me the biggest smile, and all the complaining of the teachers and eye-rolling of the students was worth it just for that smile.

I also got two books I SUPER wanted from the ARC pile at the library. (The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan, and Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindle)

From:

auriaephiala.livejournal.com

Thank YOU for letting me know about the new Kindle!

From:

thanate.livejournal.com

I would add further that your bagger is excellent for asking at all, rather than trying to put about three items in the nice sturdy bags that you have (say) specifically because they'll fit two gallons of milk with a nice shoulder strap. Good for him. :)

Most of my nice things these days involve wildlife: tiny little birds singing their heads off, for instance. And frogs. And blooming milkweed...

I was pleasantly surprised today to discover that the credit card that got replaced for mysterious presumably-fraud-related reasons is backwards compatible for returns, so I was able to exchange the waders that didn't quite fit for a pair that ought to, even though the pair that I'm getting had to be ordered through the website with a helpful in-store shipping-forgiveness coupon code.

Oh, and drywall. Drywall means putting up curtain tie-backs takes 5 minutes & a couple of cup hooks, rather than upwards of half an hour & at least one drill bit eaten by the ancient plaster in the old part of my house.

From:

sksperry.livejournal.com

My favorite Valkyrie mentioned me in her blog. That was nice. :)

From:

mechaieh.livejournal.com

At breakfast, I wasn't keen on any of the options spelled out in the menu, but then I asked the waitress about the crepes, and there was one with trout, potatoes, and capers. And that turned out to be just right.

Also, I have downloaded the most recent issue of On Spec onto my laptop.

Also, there was asparagus on sale today. And I broiled it with pork chops, with an improvised orange-mustard sauce, and the BYM arrived home while the food was still hot.

From:

carbonel

I am in New York, staying at an airport hotel, and spent the day in Manhattan. The cheap way to get back to the hotel is to take a shuttle -- except that it only runs once an hour at night. So I was on the train to JFK and it was ten after the hour, and I was thinking that I needed to take a taxi or wait 50 minutes -- and then I remembered that that once an hour on the hour was from leaving the hotel, and it took some time for the shuttle to get from the hotel to the pickup point near JFK. So I started running, and as I got to the pickup point, the shuttle was there and starting to pull out. But I waved my arms and the driver stopped for me. So instead of the maximum wait I had the minimum.

Which is nice, because

txanne and I walked a million zillion miles today.

From:

rosefox

Despite being massively sleep-deprived and getting hit with food that disagreed with me in two different ways at once (a mild allergic reaction and also I think something had gone off), I got all caught up on work by the end of today's workday and then came home and shopped and made a delicious dinner with J's help, and we all sat at the table and ate dinner together and had a lovely conversation full of jokes and fond teasing, and X did the cleanup while I put away the leftovers, and it was just a good family evening of the sort we have not had enough of lately. We have all been sick and/or tired and/or working incredibly long hours and/or traveling, for rather longer than any of us would like. But today we marked an end to that, and it felt very good.

From:

mkille.livejournal.com

We have multiple good candidates for an open position.

Our Board indirectly complimented us managers when they said, "We need to start thinking and talking about this intelligently, like you have been."

We had Company For Dinner tonight.

From:

papersky.livejournal.com

Local kid brought me a rose. OK, a rose she had broken off somebody else's bush, which isn't a good thing to do, so we had a conversation about that, but all the same I have a little fragrant dark pink rose with a two inch stem. And she mentioned that she had made my ideal chocolate cake in her mom's house, which means I have taught her to make it well enough that she can make it anywhere, which is great.

From:

diatryma.livejournal.com

I sent my parents home with a pair of carrots. And our raspberries are getting ripe.

From:

toadnae.livejournal.com

A dear friend did not just help me with my resume and cover letter, she drafted a cover letter for me. Thanks to her help, I've now applied for 10 jobs. I have hope that I will be out of this rapidly disintegrating situation soon!

From:

vcmw

Today at volunteering, I saw a new picture book by Emily Gravett, so yay!

Monday night, I used my sun room as a proofing room to catch up batch two of bread dough with batch one of bread dough, so I was able to bake both loaves at the same time - and they each just fit on the only trays I had that fit together in the oven.