Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

A Message in Coconut Sorbet


I smiled, standing there in the frozen food case, with a cloud of cold fogging the glass freezer doors and a flush of warmth rising up in my heart. Someone had oh-so-carefully taped a little message to the lid of a carton of coconut sorbet that I was getting ready to put into my grocery cart.


Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.

I had heard the saying before, and now I liked it all over again. It seemed serendipitous that I had picked it, like a bright flower in a cold winter. It’s not that I was depressed or even upset in any way, but I love, love, love little messages from strangers. They remind me that there is kindness in the world that exists for the sake of kindness alone. They remind me that even small things can spread in a big way. They remind me we are all connected somehow.

But why the sorbet? Did this person think that anyone desperate enough to buy it must be depressed? And why the coconut?

I’ll never know. What I do know is that someone out there is sending inspirational messages to others. And that is always a treat.


Luminous beings are we…not this crude matter. ~Yoda

15 comments:

  1. Well Tammy, If someone would want to send a message to Beth or me, they wouldn't pick coconut anything. I have NEVER heard of anyone getting a message from someone at the grocery store.

    If this has happened to you before (messages sent to you at various types of places in various ways) I think you have a s tory to write...

    Yes, there IS something good in every day.

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  2. It has happened to me before. Is that weird?

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  3. Tammy the universe conspires with you. This is wonderful. Yummmm coconut!

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    1. I wish it would conspire to tape money on, too. Oh, bad Tammy! Bad! But you made me realize I should've included a photo of it. Thanks, Linda!

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  4. That is really cool (pardon the frozen-food pun). The only message I ever get from a stranger is a sales call on my answering machine.

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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    1. Thanks for the laugh, Pat. I get lots of those, too!

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  5. Way cool. It was not only nice that someone left the note, but that it was read by someone who appreciated their effort. Happy Easter!

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  6. Another beautiful post, and I love that someone left this note randomly for the next person to find. It's these little things, these solitary kindnesses, that truly touch our hearts. Thanks for posting!

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  7. See, there's the difference. You delight in the uplifting message, while I would most likely say, "Can you believe someone had the audacity to leave a note on my sorbet?" I wonder if that's the reason you are an uplifting-message magnet, while I am a weirdo magnet...

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  8. Let's just say the universe has thrown me more than a few weirdos, creepers, and sociopaths. There's a reason I get so excited when the message is a nice one. :{

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  9. How wonderful! Wouldn't you love to know the story behind it? Here's an idea... you've just the creative mind to make one up - a short story that begins with finding a message on a container of ice cream. You just can't make this stuff up ; )

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  10. Hmm. It would make a great prompt, wouldn't it?! Thanks for stopping by, Beth!

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  11. Oh my gosh, I absolutely LOVE it.

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