Starting conversations with strangers

Friday, February 29.  Hey all, happy leap year day.  Or whatever.  Today was truly great.  I'm starting to feel quite good now, and it's been a very long personal journey to get there.  But I'm not complaining at all.  Today was mostly filled with the stuff we do everyday.  I worked out.  I ran some errands, like going to the grocery store and the bank.  Also had a great session with crazy wonderful Dr. Bob.  He has really helped me look at things from a perspective that has made all the difference in the world.

Today I also delivered meals again.  It was snowy and messy out this morning, but not that cold.  Luckily my route was in a retirement home so I didn't have to drive to each and every person like with some routes.  I thought today would be a good day to try to start conversations with people I didn't really know.  So with each meal I delivered, I would ask if there was anything else I could do for them, and if they responded or seemed like they needed company, I would stay for a few minutes and talk.

Only two of my twelve people seemed interested.  The first was a Russian woman and her adult daughter.  She was cooking something when I arrived (funny, that must mean the food I bring must suck!).  It smelled great, so I asked her what she was making and she tried to explain to me what it was and how she made it.  I didn't totally get it but I know it starts with boiling or heating milk and using a cheesecloth to take the top part (or bottom, I don't really know), combining that with some kind of cheese and then pan frying them it little patties.  She didn't offer me any but I guess they weren't finished yet.  Looked and smelled great though.   We talked a little about Moscow and St. Petersburg because I had visited with mom and dad a year and a half ago.  With that, I left.

I didn't get anyone else to engage me until my second to last person, a man named Tom.  What a great name!  I saw he had a keyboard and asked if he played.  He said yes and he also really was a composer.  Cool.  I have been thinking about buying a small electronic keyboard anyway so he gave me the history of electronic keyboards (pretty interesting, actually and Stevie Wonder was involved), suggested what I might buy to start out, and also played me one of his compositions.  It was beautiful.  Composers of classical music blow me away.  To be able to put together all these random sounds together so seamlessly.  Cool.  I also suggested that he buy or download some Coldplay, as they use quite a bit of piano in their music and it's what I think makes their sound so unique and haunting and awesome.  I also ended up taking his garbage out for him because he is tethered to an oxygen tank unfortunately.  Said goodbye and look forward to talking to him again.

Pretty interesting what you find when you bother to ask.  You never get what you expect!

See you all tomorrow.  Peace and happiness for you all.  Thanks for reading!