Not too many people come in to the doc’s office while I’m there. I work opposite the doc and his team, so it’s very quiet. Solitude can be nice because it allows me to finish my work quickly and then take some time to blog or to study for school. Today, I was working quietly when an elderly couple came in.
“My glasses are driving me crazy,” he said. They were bent and needed an adjustment. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to help him (adjustments require training & tools), so I had to apologize and give him times to come back. Thinking that was the end of it, I was a little amused when the gentleman said to his wife, “let’s sit down and rest for a few minutes.”
It isn’t very often that I get to talk with the elderly, and I enjoy it greatly, especially when they’re a cute and friendly couple like these two. I took a moment to ask about the weather, and before you know it, they were enmeshed in my story about my greyhound India chasing pelicans down the shoreline at Chick’s beach. I could tell they were imagining her running alongside those birds.
It’s nice to connect with other generations, but if we don’t take time to do it, we may never realize what we’re missing. This holiday season, I’m going to make sure I take some time to slow down and connect with people around me. Those connections just might be the true gift of the season.
Copyright Halie S. Hovenga, 2010