Required Reading

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Happy feelin's.


Now playing on my mental iPod:
 "Happy feelin's in the air
Touching people everywhere
Plenty love and everything
Listen to the people sing. . . .

I've seen the light
Watched it shine down on me
I'm gonna spread my wings, yeah
And I'm gonna tell all I see
Of these happy feelin's
I'll spread them all over the world
From deep in my soul. . . . .. 

I wish you happy feelin's. . . ."

________________________________________________________

Ran into Miss Regina, the cafeteria lady, on the elevator yesterday.  The door opened on the second floor and on she came with her big ol' silver cart-- and oh-EM-GEE when she saw me. Just that very day someone had shown her the two posts on this blog about her and as it turns out, she had literally just read every line including your comments.

Oh me, oh my.

"It's you!" she exclaimed. "That lady who wrote those things about me! Somebody let me see it and I finally read it all today."

For a minute I was thinking,  Rut roh. Is she mad? Naaaaah.

"I'm glad you got to read it, Miss Regina."

"Oh Lord. . . .I was just crying and crying," she told me. "I kept saying, 'Me?' I couldn't believe it." She patted her chest and shook her head. "Mmm." She sighed to blow off the emotional charge. "I just--"  she stopped mid-sentence and closed her eyes and shook her head again. "Mmm."

Mmmm was right.

"And all them people," she went on incredulously, "them strangers on them comments. . . .saying all those nice things about me. . .'Miss Regina this' and 'Miss Regina that'. . .I mean. . ." She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow in that same way actresses do when accepting Oscars or Emmys and they're trying not to do the ugly cry.  Hmmm. Now that I think of it, Oprah has done that like forty five times already during this farewell season. . .errr, but I digress.

Wow,  y'all. She was really happy. Which made me really happy. Which is probably making you really happy, too. Which makes me happy all over again.

Miss Regina grabbed my wrist and her face became serious. Something about the way she gripped my arm sent a bolt of electricity through me. "Please. . . can you tell them I said thank you? All those people who said those nice things about me? Tell them I said thank you. For real."

I smiled at her big and wide and kind of goofy even.  "Miss Regina, I think they'd want me to thank you."

She placed her palm on her chest, turned her head away and did the "girl, don't you go into the ugly cry" face again.

A smile spread across my face, oozing into my eyes and dripping down into my heart. I nodded, facing her as the elevator doors opened. I pointed at her and backed out of the elevator while continuing to nod my head.

"Yes, you," I told her. "Yes, you."

Yes, you.


Here's what I know for sure:  Flowers are best when given to the living.

6 comments:

  1. You're right. Miss Regina, you're really happy, and that's making me really happy too. :) I guess this is a lesson on never underestimating the power that your comments can have on people - both good and bad, but thankfully so, so good in this case. Love and hugs to Grady. :D

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  2. You are a force for good, Dr. M.

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  3. Miss Regina, you just keep on keepin' on! The world is a better place for people like you. And if you have one of those days when you don't feel appreciated, when the patients give you flak for something they got (or didn't) you just think of us out here saying a little prayer for you.

    AA in ATL

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  4. I am firmly convinced that it is the Miss Reginas and Dr. Mannings of this world who have kept mankind moving forward and have brought it back from the brink of chaos and destruction throughout history. As short and insignificant as an individual life may seem in the grand scheme of things, we should never discount the power of a single good person or a single good deed. More often than not, that is ALL that matters.

    Thank you, to both of you!

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"Tell me something good. . . tell me that you like it, yeah." ~ Chaka Khan