I had an interesting thing happen to me yesterday. I was shooting a video late in the afternoon, when all of a sudden, the doorbell rang. As I approached the door, I could see a man standing about 15 feet away from the door, looking into the glass panel as I started to open the door. For a brief moment, I thought “Isn’t that weird? He just rang the bell a moment ago and he’s already walking away.”
It wasn’t until I opened the door that it all started to make sense. Standing before me was a beautiful little girl with a notebook in her hands. She had long, straight, blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes and a warm smile. I said a cheery “Hello” to her with a bit of curiosity in my voice, even though I knew all too well what was coming next. She said “Hello, my name is Erin, and I am selling Girl Scout Cookies. Would you like to buy some?” I stepped outside to greet them both, the man with her now standing a little bit closer. It turns out that he is her grandfather taking her around the neighborhood to sell cookies.
I replied to Erin “Of course. I’d love to buy some. I’ll take two boxes.” As she wrote down the information in her notebook, her grandfather and I introduced ourselves to each other. Still fairly new living here, I have not had the chance to meet many of the neighbors yet.
We started asking the usual questions you ask when you first meet someone to get to know them better. We stood there for about ten minutes. What took me by surprise was that the entire time her grandfather, Tim, and I were talking, Erin kept coming over to me and throwing her arms around my waist to hug me. She must have done it about a half a dozen times. Even remembering it now and writing this brings a tear to my eyes. What a beautiful expression of love from a third grade little girl to me, a total stranger.
I stopped talking whenever she did it so I could smile at her and hug her back. I wanted her to know that I acknowledged the gestger and appreciated it. It’s such a simple thing, but it got me thinking. We all emit our energy, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. And, others feel it! This little girl had such an open heart and warm energy, and she could feel mine too. As I stood there talking to Tim, she stood there, staring at me. I could literally feel her love for me. So, she did what every kid does, and what every adult loses the ability to do…she expressed herself without any fear of being judged or rejected. That’s a priceless gift.
As we finished our conversation and made arrangements for the two of them to deliver the cookies at another time, we all said good-bye to one another. She hugged me one last time. When I got back into the house, I realized the sun was already setting so I would not be able to shoot anymore video that day. The opportunity was gone. I had lost the light. But, what I gained was so much better. The warm, genuine hugs of a child. That was totally worth it!
Being someone who practices and teaches intentional living, it’s those moments in life that we need to honor, embrace and remember the most. I love when they are so unexpected such as that moment was. Maybe part of the energy I was emitting yesterday was that I could really use a hug. I mean, couldn’t we all use one? I hope you get hugged today, as many times as you need one. I’m giving you a virtual one right now…I hope you can feel it!
Quote: A hug is like a boomerang…you get it back right away. ~ Bil Keane