Attacked During My Free Time

Today was a weird day.

First of all, Ed kicked me out of the house alone so I could have free time. Good thing too, I was about to kill him. (Just kidding babe! you know I love ya!)

Then, while out and about I was accosted TWICE by two different men in two different places.

The first happened while I was at the mall. I generally don't make eye contact with the people working the kiosks or who appear to be doing surverys. I don't want to waste their time or mine.

This guy, a "Rico Suave" type of guy though approached me even though I was doing my defensive arms-crossed, head-down walk. It was obvious that he thought he was all that and a bag 'o chips. He just didn't know that I already had a bag 'o chips at home scoring brownie points.

He said something that I couldn't understand and I didn't want to be completely rude so I asked him to repeat it. He asked to see my nails. Again, I was trying to be polite, so I showed him. He grabbed my hand and said something about wanting to pamper me. He had turned on all the charm, but I wasn't buying it. I told him I had to get home to my son. That was partly true. I did have to get home to Eddie -- after I made a few more stops.

I moved on and he went back to being bored, I suppose. I understand he has a job to do, but couldn't he be a little less "Rico Suave" while doing it. I left the mall feeling dirty.

After that I headed off to the grocery store. Cause you know that's what all us moms do in our "free time." I did my shopping and headed out to the car. I loaded the groceries and took my cart back like a *good* shopper. I was a little annoyed at the smell of cigarette smoke wafting through the air, ruining my perfectly good shopping trip, but otherwise I was just enjoying not having to chase after Eddie.

As I pushed my cart into the corral, a little old man approached me. I think I am actually bigger than he was. I'm not very big either at just 5'5" and somewhere between 110 and 120 lbs. So if I am bigger than he was, you can imagine how tiny he was.

Anyway, he started talking about how he was 84 years old and how he always watched young people park up close to the store, but he parked far away so he could get a little exercise. I told him, "I parked far away too."

I was thinking, "Great, accosted a second time today and this time it's cause I didn't park far enough away."

He said, "I know, that's why I am talking to you. It's good to get exercise. That's how I lived so long. I was in the war in the invasion of France... I started working the plow when I was 13 after my dad died... I see these young people now and it's no wonder our country is in the shape it's in... "

He was just talking about young people, his life and the war. I shared with him that my husband is military and he asked about that. Then he said he was proud to know young people still want to serve. He vented a little about the people who aren't very thankful for the military today, even though those same people enjoy numerous freedoms because of our military.

At one point he said he wanted to talk to me about Jesus. He said he forgets to count his blessings a lot and talking to people reminds him to do that. Remembering the war helps him to count his blessings.

He got a little choked up and shared about how his wife died a little over a year ago and how he's lonely now. He mentioned that his church is struggling and that is the reason he talks to people; he's lonely.

All in all, I was glad he stopped me. It was a reminder for me to be thankful for what I have. It also was a reminder of how closed off our society is to each other. I could rant on that for days, but Eddie's awake now, so I'll stop here.