*06.11.2002 - 12:46 a.m.*

Well, some new and very cool things have happened in my life as of late...and seeing how it's late, I'm gonna write down a good entry while my brain is down and my feeling are exposed. I'll start with Friday night.

Friday night (6.8.02) my friend Sean from Staten Island came down to go to the Goo Goo Dolls concert with me, and crash at my place. He got down here at around 7, and I took him to Machelli's Pizza (the best pizza he and I have ever had) for dinner. Then we went to the concert. On the way my car's muffler broke, but we made it to The Taj (a casino) on time. The show was *FANtastic* with a capital "fan". Fiver For Fighting started it off, and then the Goo Goo Dolls went on. I would post a set list, but I have a feeling they play the same set for all performances on their tour, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Suffice it to say, both Fiver For Fighting and Goo Goo Dolls have a new big fan. As soon as I get money, I'm gonna start buying their CDs.

Moving on to Saturday. Sean and I went for a walk, and he met Leah. They seemes to hit it off pretty well. His dad came to pick him up at 1. I went to get my car fixed at 2:30, and didn't leave until 5. But my car had a brand new muffler, and it was happy. I love my car. After that, I went home, changed, ate something, and went to work for 8pm-12am.

Sunday. Nothing really eventful happened Sunday...except for one thing. This one thing is minor, but for som reason, it had a big impact on me, so I'm probably going to talk at length about it. What happened was thing. I was a cashier chick all day, and at around 10:30am or so, this sweet elderly woman comes up to my register to buy books. I'm ringing her up, smiling, and talking to her about little small talk-y things. She asks me if the Borders magazine she has costs anything, and I say "Nope, it doesn't cost a thing." and I smile. I tell her the grand total (somewhere between 30 and 40 dollars I think), and she gives me the money. I give her her change and say "[can't remember what the amount was] is your change." she takes it, says "And my free book." and smiles.

It was probably the way she said it, or maybe the look of the smile at the end, but hearing her say "and my free book" shook me. She said it with happiness...or gladness. She was happy to get a free book (or magazine as the case may be). She found pleasure in such a little thing...She didn't take freebies for granted, she appreciated them, and found happiness wherever she could. Hearing all that in her voice shook me to the core. I wanted to stop bagging her books and give her a hug. So few people today have that mentality, it's so great to find a person that still does. I didn't hug her, because that would have been "weird", but I wanted to.

So, I handed her her bag, thanked her, and told her to have a great day. She thanked me, smiled again, and left. Like I said, a little thing, but I'm still thinking about it almost 2 days later, so it's gotta mean something.

I want to be like that when I get along in my years. I don't want to become so jaded that I take things for granted, and lose a sense of wonder about life. That elderly woman still had a childlike sparkle to her, which is hard to maintain in today's world. I hope to be like her, still have that sparkle in my eye and my smile, no matter what my age may be.

"I believe if I refuse to grow old, I will stay young till I die."
-- Berthe "Just No Time At All"