I was at the post office today standing in an extremely long line as we all have to do. There was an extremely anxious woman in front of me, hair disheveled, worried wrinkles across her brow, and about 10 crinkled packages tight in her arms. While gazing at this curious woman I noticed that she had the most beautiful handwriting I had ever seen. It reminded me of my Moms. I struck up a conversation with her based on this, and she told me that she was a retired elementary school teacher, and her favorite thing was teaching penmanship to the children, which schools no longer value. That got us really talking. I asked her if I could buy her a Bloody Mary as it's my day off (and truthfully she really looked like she needed to relax). So, we went across the street to a random bar and she told me that she had moved to Portland only a few months ago to be closer to her two daughters. A month after she arrived her daughter lost her job and had to move to San Francisco for a new position, while her other daughter finished grad school in Seattle over a year ago, and can't find a job in her career with over $200,000 in loans, and is now considering moving to New Mexico, making her expensive move invalid. Upon two months of living here her dog and best friend was attacked by another dog in her new neighborhood. She lost the case to have the other dogs owner pay for the thousands of dollars in medical bills she had accumulated trying to save her dog, that had not made it through his final surgeries. She now has had to come out of retirement and take a job as a barista in this new city alone at 67 years old. She told me I was the first person to take any interest at all in her in Portland. She told me that I gave her hope for herself here, and that I put a smile back on her face. I paid for our drinks and we went our separate ways…Just a reminder that we are all fighting our own demons, and to treat others with kindness and care, because you just never know what they're going through.
