The Stories We Meet

I was up late on night recently finishing up some work on a class and I wanted to get out of the house, so I went to Denny's since it is open 24/7. I was finishing up and the young lady who had been serving was doing a great job and I let her know. While we were chatting, I asked if she always worked the night shift.

She said, "No, just on the weekend. I go to school during the week."

"You go to school during the week?" It was one of those I'm struggling to get this in my mind so I'll ask a stupid question or just repeat what you already told me moments. Changing your sleeping pattern from night to day is difficult, and she just told me that she doesn't really do that. She just pulls all-nighters on the weekend so that she can work. I'm still wowed by that.

She continues on, nicely filling in for my dumb question, "Yeah, I'm only 17 and haven't finished high school so I work on the weekends. This way I can get more hours in."

I asked her what she wanted to do when she graduates. She told me that she is thinking about business, and definitely wants to travel. I told her that there are lots of good business jobs that have traveling, and told her of some friends who traveled a lot for their jobs. We talked on for a few more minutes since it was relatively slow that night.

Anyway, she cheered me up. Here is a nice, hard-working young lady who isn't angry that she's up late working - she was friendly and was doing a fantastic job at her workplace. I left her a tip that was triple my bill and wished that I could afford to give her more.

As your story overlaps the story of someone else, that intersection will be colored and developed. Those intersections happen all the time, most of it with little thought. To paint a few brush strokes of bright and lively colors on the canvas of life is not a bad way to go about living.