The Magic of Christmas Morning
I couldn’t help but notice the gazing stare in her eyes as I walked past her in the aisles of the local electronics store. Stopping to admire the woman whose attention I had apparently grabbed, I asked her, “Are you with someone?”
She took a step back and looked at me strangely for a brief second, then began to speak: “I am with someone… Why do you ask?”
“It seemed to me like you were searching for someone,” I told her as innocently as possible.
“What gave you that idea?” she inquired.
Fiddling around in the discounted DVD bin I said, “The way you were making brief eye contact with nearly every man you walked by. It’s difficult not to notice. You should be more careful next time.”
She began to sift through the same bin I was, tossing aside several movies to dig deeper into the pile desperately looking for something deep within the bin. It has been my experience that thinking you will find a particular DVD in an unlabeled bin leads you no where.
“Are we shopping for Christmas gifts or are we here for ourselves?” I asked her, deliberately using ‘we’ whenever possible.
“Oh… myself… I know it seems selfish, but this is the best time of the year to buy yourself the movies that you want. All the prices are pretty reasonable about now,” she said, rummaging through another bin of DVDs.
“I completely agree. Can I ask you a question?”
She grinned, “Do you always ask complete strangers if you can ask them a question? Haven’t you already done so by asking to ask?”
“Maybe so, but some people just don’t like to be asked questions.”
“I’m all ears,” she said.
“Are you with someone?”
She laughed again, “I already told you I was.”
“I mean: are you here with someone,” I said.
“Oh… no… no I’m here by myself,” she said, breaking eye contact and reverting her attention back to the bin in front of her.
“Tell you what,” I said, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen out of my pocket, “I’m going to give you my number and when you find that person you are searching for… give me a call.”
“I don’t understand… why do you want me to call you?” she said rather confused.
“I like to make people happy and I want to make sure you’re happy. You have a beautiful smile and your eyes glow when you smile,” I said handing her the piece of paper with my number on it. “Christmas is a magical season, you know.”
“So I’ve seen in the movies,” she said, taking the piece of paper from my hands.
“It’s also a very stressful time of year. Speaking from experience, I know that watching all those wonderful Christmas films of the past and present can really tug at your emotional state of mind,” I said.
<s
pan style=”FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana”> “Can I ask you a question?” she asked after a long pause.
“What’s that,” I said.
“How is it that I feel like I’ve known you longer than the ten minutes we’ve been talking here?”
“I don’t know… Sometimes it depends on the situation, what is said, and how open you are to speaking honestly. I have found that if you were in a stressful situation that left you emotionally unstable, instead of guarding your emotions, you wind up wearing your emotions on your sleeves,” I told her.
“How does that explain why I feel like I’ve known you longer than I really do?” she asked, a little bit confused.
“It’s simply in the fact that you may be sharing more about yourself than you think. Body language is lot more powerful than most people believe it to be,” I said.
“I never thought of it like that,” she said. “Have you ever met someone that you thought you had met before, but know you never have?
“Once,” I said.
“Once? So you know what I’m talking about?”
“A little… that’s kind of a loaded question though.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
“To some, but not to all.”
I reminded her of the piece of paper she was holding in her hand and told her once more to give me a call when she finds the person she is searching for. She still gave me a strange look, but I knew she knew what I was talking about.
After making my purchase, I headed for the exit and noticed outside that snow had begun falling onto the cold wet streets of the night. I thought to myself how much of a clichéd situation I had found myself in, but couldn’t help but smile at the irony. Speaking with her for that short period of time was an interesting experience. It was only recent that I had spoken with two friends of mine who expressed to me their concern for their broken relationships. Both of them had been engaged for a minimum of two years and were all ready to move in together and get married; but as fate would deal the unlucky hand, everything fell apart.
These were women who had been ready to settle down with the love of their lives, but all ended faster than they were ready for. A friend had told me that the engagement period is the most stressful and confusing part of a developing relationship. This is the point in time when all questions, doubts and thoughts are laid out in plain sight (or sometimes hidden deep within). My friend was trying to encourage me to still maintain interest in a woman who appeared to have just gotten engaged several days after I had asked her out. These are the most vulnerable points in both of their lives where they begin to wonder if this is the right thing to do.
Especially around the Holidays, our emotional state of being is put the test. In the meantime, I try to inspire others and make everyone happy by keeping a positive attitude. Merry Christmas to everyone and have a safe holiday.