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a warm fuzzy feeling
Dec. 21st, 2004 12:37 amI don't deal with cold very well. The lttle snap of preliminary cold we had a few weeks ago was just enough to make me recognize the inadequacy of my new cold weather gear. I bought new mittens last week, after asking far too many questions about how warm each kind were. The clerk finally told me to just buy the thinsulate ones, and bring them back if they turned out not to be warm enough. I did make a point of getting mittens big enough that I can wear light cloth gloves under them when the weather is really dire, though I'd rather minimize the effort of wiggling my fingers into gloves. I'll be trading the new mittens in for something warmer tomorrow or the next day, because they aren't warm enough for me, even at 20F.
I realized that this morning. There was an man on my bus, having an extended conversation with the driver, fussing with a map. He got off at my stop and asked me for directions, with his map blowing in the wind. He was in his 60s or 70s, about to wait some unknown time for the Lowell bus, to go to a medical office building, in an area he knows nothing about. I explained the bus situation as best I could. Sometimes I explain something, and I can see the person I'm talking to click over from "confused" or "scared and confused" to "ok, right, I get it now." Not this time. The scary and confusing and general awfulness may just have been beyond the realm of bus schedules.
As I was walking to work, with my mittened hands in my pockets, I remembered that the old man had no gloves. So I went back and gave him my acrylic glove liners. They stretch enough to fit almost anyone. It looked like he was having a really bad day, and needed them worse than I did. I don't wish people "Merry Christmas," even when it feels like an appropriate and expected thing to say. I just said, "Hi there. It's too cold to stay out long with bare hands. Take care of yourself." And he clutched the crumpled-up gloves I had given him when he thought I was shaking his hand with my mitten. And he stared at me, still looking dazed. And I walked away. The warm fuzzy feeling lasted almost 3 blocks.
I realized that this morning. There was an man on my bus, having an extended conversation with the driver, fussing with a map. He got off at my stop and asked me for directions, with his map blowing in the wind. He was in his 60s or 70s, about to wait some unknown time for the Lowell bus, to go to a medical office building, in an area he knows nothing about. I explained the bus situation as best I could. Sometimes I explain something, and I can see the person I'm talking to click over from "confused" or "scared and confused" to "ok, right, I get it now." Not this time. The scary and confusing and general awfulness may just have been beyond the realm of bus schedules.
As I was walking to work, with my mittened hands in my pockets, I remembered that the old man had no gloves. So I went back and gave him my acrylic glove liners. They stretch enough to fit almost anyone. It looked like he was having a really bad day, and needed them worse than I did. I don't wish people "Merry Christmas," even when it feels like an appropriate and expected thing to say. I just said, "Hi there. It's too cold to stay out long with bare hands. Take care of yourself." And he clutched the crumpled-up gloves I had given him when he thought I was shaking his hand with my mitten. And he stared at me, still looking dazed. And I walked away. The warm fuzzy feeling lasted almost 3 blocks.
