The Conversation With A Big Smile

Here I am sitting in a public place getting my nails done.  There were several women and men there.  I am sittting here enjoying a luxury that I don't do often enough when a lady walked in talking very very loud yet had a happy smile on her face. 

My first impression of her was that she looked too cute to be that loud. She wasn't a beautiful lady but her confidence made her stand out.  I would guess that she was in her late 40's.  She was very petite and wore very young looking clothes. 

The longer that she was there you could tell that she thought she knew it all.  Everyone was listening to her tell them about the certain design that she wanted on her big toe that she had made up herself.  She said she thought it looked great on her toes. (all with a big smile). 

When she came in she was with another lady that looked to be a little older than her. This lady did not make a sound.  I don't think that she had the opportunity to speak even if she had wanted to. But I believe that if she had spoke, she would have been kind, real and soft spoken.  I may be wrong and I will never know because she never said a word. 

The cute loud lady with the big smile was voicing her opinion about the chair she was in, the water temp., the t.v. channel that was on, her original design for her big toe, and the person she wanted to do her toes. Everyone had turned their attention to her. During all of this complaining all with a big smile she looked across the room and realized that she knew someone.

She asked the younger girl how she was (all with a big smile).  The girl answered softly and said fine and how are you?  Well, you can imagine how that conversation went.  She proceeded to tell her everything in life that is wrong and how she could change the world. (all with a big smile).  Then she looked across the room at the younger girl and said, "Did I hear that you got married?"  The young girl said "Yes. Our wedding was in Sept.".  The loud lady smiled really big and said, "Are you happy?"  The young girl said, "Oh yes!"  The loud lady said, "that is great".  Then there was silence for a minute. (something we had not heard since she walked in.) In my mind, I thought maybe that I had the wrong impression of the loud lady.  Then I found out that I was not wrong!!!  All of the sudden she told the young girl not to expect too much happiness for long because every man will be like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  She went on to put down the sanctity of marriage. (All with a huge smile).

The young girl didn't say a word.  She just smiled a semi sweet smile at her while she was talking.  The young girl was in the chair next to mine.  I looked over at her as she had tears in her eyes.  I was speechless.  Imagine that.  Oh I wanted to say something but I didn't want to be like the loud lady.  You may wonder why I am sharing this with you and why I even cared about the young newlywed. 

Because at this point in my life......I am trying to see lessons in everything that happens.

Lesson #1 for me:  Our words and tongue can hurt people even when we wear a big smile.

Lesson #2 for me:  What you see is not always what you get even if you wear a big smile.

Lesson #3 for me: Don't give advice unless asked and then be careful how you say it. 

 (This is a lesson I need to learn with my grown up children but it is hard to stop being motherly.)

Lesson #4 for me: Nobody knows it all.

Lesson #5 for me:  Stay quiet and be gentle in spirit.
Lesson #6 for me:  Listen.

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The Conversation (part 2) will be continued tomorrow (all with a big smile).