November 16, 2009
Dear Amy,
I had an interesting experience today. I drove to my Pilates class and had Aretha Franklin on the radio singing ‘Say a little Prayer for me’. I was right in tune at the top of my lungs, as usual, with the sun roof open. It was a beautiful and cool, sunny day in Santa Monica. Although I was late for class, I refused to leave the car, as I was having one of those perfect moments of musical bliss. I would simply not shut down Aretha for the sake of doing some hateful ab exercises!
Suddenly a man walked up to my car and gestured with his thumb pointing up at my window. The quick overview revealed a tall African American with a big smile but without most of his teeth! I was startled but before I could react, he asked, “Can you turn up the sound, because I love Aretha!” His voice was tinged with a Carribean accent. I relaxed and smiled. I felt a bit relieved mixed with a sense of delight that this man and I had the exact same emotional response to the Queen of Soul and obliged by blasting Aretha in that parking lot.
I realized that I recognized him as someone that I have seen in that parking lot before. It turns out that he washes cars there several days a week. He told me that I should get an Etta James CD, ‘Tell Mama’ 1967 and another CD entitled King and Queen of Soul, that I would love them both. We spoke about music, R&B and soul, Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, Teddy Pendergrass, and Michael Jackson who you know shall always remain my true love. Michael came on the radio as we spoke! As you know, I am suspicious of coincidence.
I went on to class for my abs and related body parts and to hear of the weekend gossip and dramas from my class mates. I really enjoy my pilates class if not for the work out then for the hysterical and insane stories that are recounted, mine included. You would love the stories Amy! We have a group comprised of women from 28- 55years old. Therefore the conversations cover the gamut.
On any given day I am apprised of revealing extra-marital affairs, heinous, tumultuous break ups, passionate reconciliations, Botox bruises to who has had the Brazilian Blowout (a process for the hair on your head in case you are wondering)! I learn about who carries fake Designer bags (You know I am not a fan of this one) and who is getting the latest breast AUGMENTATION! It must seem so ridiculous to you, like a sit-com, slightly different than your classes in Salt Lake! I will share some of these tid-bits details at a later date.
Today, however seemed even more one dimensional than usual and a bit monotonous in the world of the ‘maintaining beauty in L.A.’ crowd. I kept thinking about the near toothless SOUL mate in the parking lot who brightened my day.
I realized that the other women in class would most likely not have given this hard working, interesting man two minutes of their time, unless they needed a car wash. Though not by intention but rather because we cannot help but stay within the parameters of our comfort level and interact with those that we feel are in our same realm.
The irony is that their lives would have been enriched by the conversation with this Soul Man, not his!
After class, I prepared to leave and got into my car. My SOUL mate was washing a car and told me to wait a second. He handed me a CD by Lenny Williams from 1962 and had me listen to a song. It was so beautiful and exactly the sound that I love, so reminiscent of our music and growing up in Detroit. He said that I could not find it in a store but that I could take it to make a copy. Being that we both know how disorganized I am, I declined for fear of losing the CD. I told him though, that I would search for this artist. I plan to go get the CD’s and I will try to get one that he may like, as a little gift for him.
As I was driving away, I called out to this man to tell him that he knew more about the R&B and Motown sound than most that I have ever met. I told him that I appreciated how knowledgeable he was and thanked him for the info. I then introduced myself and learned that his name was Carlos. Suddenly a voice in the parking lot belonging to a handsome young man shouted out, “He knows about everything”! If you are a Santa Monica girl then you will know him as ‘Crazy Monkey’! Carlos nodded in agreement. It was evident that this man was a client of Carlos’ and that they shared a nice and humorous rapport.
I decided that he may be ‘Crazy Monkey’ to many and perhaps enjoys the nickname, but he introduced himself as Carlos to me. So, I shall refer to Carlos as Carlos.
Carlos is a reminder for me that we all have something of value to share and as human beings, whether we or not we are lucky enough to have teeth or crowns or veneers or dentures….most of us have the same basic desires when all is said and done: to be treated with kindness, to be respected, to be heard, a bit of appreciation, a bit of sunshine, and a bit of Aretha….
So please, “Say a little prayer for me” and I shall do the same for you.
Love and Light,
Always and Forever.....
S.
p.s. If you see Michael J. up there, tell him THIS IS IT was genious!
We must consciously make an effort and reach outside of our self imposed, comfortable box to discover the riches offered by so many persons that surround us daily. There are countless interesting and empathetic people to discover if we take the moment to say hello and to ask a question. You may find the dry cleaner who is actually a composer, the taxi cab driver with the PhD in higher mathematics or the nanny with an engineering degree. There is the housekeeper who has suffered the loss of her daughter, the caretaker for your grandmother who makes artistic jewelry or the dog walker who lives simply and has the wisdom of a shaman.
I hope that everyone tries to make a small difference in another person’s life today; let another make a big difference in yours!
Buddish Girl
Copyright 2009 The work on this blog is under a CC BY NC licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.@aol.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment