Strange & Fantastic Commuters

It really is the little things! Life has supplied a few unexpected curve balls lately, but in the midst of hardship came a wonderful surprise. As you may know, we commute daily on the MARC for our round-trip journey from Charm City to Chocolate City. You probably don't know, but for my birthday A. created a book of "coupons" for me to use over the course of this year. These coupons are colorfully illustrated and thoughtfully represent how well he knows me. Some coupon examples: Organic Homecooked Ethnic Meal; Day Hike with Keba; Explor-a-bike Day and so on...

These coupons tickled me so much that I pulled out my coupon collection recently on the train to ponder when and which one I would use first. As we made our way home, I decided to cash in my Day Hike coupon for that weekend. I reached into the depths of my backpack and...what...no way...WHERE ARE MY COUPONS?...no way, they have to be here, I just had them...NO!...(emptied bag onto floor) THEY ARE GONE.. NoooooOOOOO!

A. is so smart. These were nontransferable and couldn't be redeemed without the actual coupon. He smiled mischievously at my dismay as I tried to convince him to recreate, he denied me, and I sank my shoulders with self-disappointment. BOOHOO for me, right?

THEN, about two weeks later, our school secretary told me that I had a phone message in my mailslot. This is not uncommon, so I slowly made my way to my mailslot to see who I owed a return call. The message read, "Theresa called about those coupon."

Ummm, what? I don't know a Theresa, not sure what "those coupon" would/could be, so I disregarded this message by telling myself there must have been an error. (Not once did A.'s coupons cross my mind, but I do usually call people back.)THEN, last week, the same wonderful secretary informed me of a letter that recently arrived for me. This too was placed in my mailslot. I sauntered that way and began to open the letter. This envelope was handwritten and the return address was from Glen Burnie.

I opened this mystery package to find...MY COUPONS!!

Theresa Arney from Glen Burnie mailed my coupons back to me! This incredibly persistent woman sought me out to return what most would have considered trash. She jotted a short note about how she tried to contact me at work but I never returned her call, so she just mailed them to me. Well, jeeze, I sure felt awful for not calling her back, but my Thank You note to her was mailed today.

Oftentimes I find myself disgruntled by human misbehavior. I find people rude, brash and inappropriate (especially those from my Mid-Atlantic region). Sometimes I can shrug these feelings away by looking at the amazing people I surround myself with, for they fill me with reassurance and sanity, but sometimes those yucky people stick with me so deeply I can't sleep. This seemingly simple gesture-Theresa's persistence- made my week, well actually my year. I feel warm and fuzzy inside, smile with ease and don't care about those stupid passive aggressive, rude, inappropriate people out there. Those people can't hold down the Theresa's of the world!

THANKS TO MY FELLOW MARC TRAIN COMMUTER FOR BRINGING BACK HOPE!

Do you agree with this projection of happiness?