It’s a Wonderful World

The restaurant’s restroom, tucked into the back corner of the kitchen, behind metal prep tables and shelves filled to the ceiling with enough bags of rice, flour, and plastic containers to endure a small famine smelled of fresh scented cleaning supplies and Indian spices. It was tidy, and had everything you’d need for success; that is, except for napkins to dry your hands– a common inconvenience suffered by patrons of small businesses everyday, all over the world. It was no big deal, I’d just go outside and ask an employee for help. 

Typically this experience is unremarkable, but sometimes these little moments of collision, like atoms in a vacuum, can inject lovely and unplannable moments of levity into a day.

Just outside of the restroom, an older man chopped vegetables. We smiled at each other, and I tapped the heels of my wet wrists together as I asked him to get me something to dry my hands with. It was immediately clear that he understood what I was asking for, even though he didn’t speak english. With an urgency that I appreciated, he took me to the front and, in their common language, relayed my need to the host. Unfortunately, the host was on the phone taking an order and was somewhat tethered to the area. So he pointed to the napkins, which were on a shelf a little distance from where we were, and directed the older man to get them for me. 

The older man looked to the shelf, and apparently decided he should present another option, because in that moment, he reached into his apron pocket, retrieved a neatly folded paper towel, and quietly presented it to the host as an alternative! The host batted away the offer, and fetched the proper napkins himself.

While it was a little shocking I, personally, was amused and touched by the older man’s efficient solution to my problem– offering up his own paper towel; but I was nevertheless grateful for the new napkins. 

I am fortunate to have an outlet through which I can share wonderful moments like this with people who listen. It is from this space of sharing that I get joy, catharsis, and community. With you, this blog/newsletter/whatever is a petri dish of potential and of exploration. Without you, it is just a car in a driveway with no gas. 

So thank you– for reading, enduring, being, and for making it possible. 

You are who, and what, I’m thankful for this year.

Wishing you a healthy and happy (early) Thanksgiving.

Los Angeles, CA, USA
November 2019