appreciation

he looked a little bit uptight when he
first got here....but i ignored that
and whisked him down to my furnace room
with great delight that he had arrived.

i told him that i didn't want him to get
all dirty, but i hadn't vacuumed in there
because i wanted him to see the soot!
'i figured you'd want to see it. but then
i'll clean it up for you.' i told him.

oh no, he said, he'd vacuum it.
i pointed to my vacuum i had right there.
i don't mind at all, i said.
no, he had it.

i told him it all looked way scary to me
and i was so glad he was there.

as he was heading back to his truck for
tools, he assured me he had it under
control.

he looked way way more relaxed.

i went into my studio to stay out of his
way and i thought of something my neighbor
had told me. he had worked doin' fix up
stuff for a wealthy neighborhood and he
had gotten treated pretty cruddy more times
than not.

he's the nicest guy in the world and wouldn't
do anything to cause that treatment. but the
whole 'fix it guy' thing seemed to be a pass
for people to be rude.

now.
this is HARDLY a wealthy neighborhood.
and one step into my house and you know
it's not the lifestyles of the rich and
famous.
so it's hardly like i'd be pretentious.

but as i thought of what my neighbor had
said, i thought of this guy that had come
in and how his demeanor had changed when
i started chatting with him.

he called me over to tell me what was up
and ask me to turn up the thermostat.
i started chatting with him.
he got out some kinda funky gauge and was
checkin' things out.

'you look like a doctor.' i told him.

by the time he left, he was smiling a lot
and laughing with me.

i thanked him, told him he was my furnace
doctor and i sooooo appreciated him.

he was an entirely different guy leaving
here.

as i closed the door behind him, i thought
my gosh.....just appreciating someone matters
so darn much.

just being appreciated.

we all need that.
we all need to give it as well......