At my office there is a man named Walter. He is a Guatemalan immigrant probably in his early 30s. He does maintenance/custodial work for the building. He calls me amiguita, the Spanish diminutive form of friend. I speak enough broken Spanish & he enough broken English that we can communicate. He tells me of his wife & family and I had told him of my family & boyfriend.
Whenever he sees me he always asks how I am and about mi novio (boyfriend) & today I was not good at putting on faces. I couldn't offer a fake bien (well). And he asked if I was sick. I said no. Triste (sad)? Yes. And so he concernedly sought the root of it, which didn't take much.
And this isn't a story about me having a tough day or to make anyone feel bad. At this moment thanks to God & people in my office & my mom & a breaking of silence I'm feeling somewhat better. But the reason I tell this story is that Walter made sure I smiled before he walked away from my desk.
Shortly after he returned with a Quaker Chewy Low Fat Chocolate Chunk 90 Calorie Granola Bar--my favorite unbeknownst to him. At first I refused, you see Walter works 10+ hour days and almost always 7 days a week. He works very hard for all he has. But he insisted. He had 2 and wanted to share one with me to lift my spirits.
What a kind & generous act. It's amazing how great kindness can be shown so simply and how God shows up even through the sharing of an afternoon snack. Maybe all we need to know about life we really did learn in kindergarten . . .
Whenever he sees me he always asks how I am and about mi novio (boyfriend) & today I was not good at putting on faces. I couldn't offer a fake bien (well). And he asked if I was sick. I said no. Triste (sad)? Yes. And so he concernedly sought the root of it, which didn't take much.
And this isn't a story about me having a tough day or to make anyone feel bad. At this moment thanks to God & people in my office & my mom & a breaking of silence I'm feeling somewhat better. But the reason I tell this story is that Walter made sure I smiled before he walked away from my desk.
Shortly after he returned with a Quaker Chewy Low Fat Chocolate Chunk 90 Calorie Granola Bar--my favorite unbeknownst to him. At first I refused, you see Walter works 10+ hour days and almost always 7 days a week. He works very hard for all he has. But he insisted. He had 2 and wanted to share one with me to lift my spirits.
What a kind & generous act. It's amazing how great kindness can be shown so simply and how God shows up even through the sharing of an afternoon snack. Maybe all we need to know about life we really did learn in kindergarten . . .
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