Monica at Macy’s

Everyday, life presents us with momentous opportunities but it’s up to us to recognise and take advantage of them. This week’s post is inspired by a lady I met on a recent trip to New York – Monica.

We were shopping at Macy’s and after a while we decided to find somewhere to have a rest. My husband and I found a free space and sat next to the most unassuming lady and greeted her.

We hit it off and she was instantly taken with us and particularly with me. Within moments, I found out she had lived in London for nine years and loved it. She lived with a friend from the Philippines and she was quite complimentary about her.

Due to this friendship, she visited the Philippines seven times and ended up supporting the local causes that her friend supported. In her own way, through a simple connection with a ‘class act’ friend, Monica impacted a world outside of hers.

She said she was a good judge of character and was certain I was also a ‘class act’. She wished I lived in New York as she would have loved to take me places and be my friend.

I found Monica engaging, refreshing, appreciative, kind and just an ‘all rounder good’ human being. I don’t use the word ‘good’ lightly. Her honesty was refreshing.

I learnt about how adventurous she was and how much she celebrated life by the kinds of things she did, the music she listened to, the friends she had, the places she visited and how she spent her spare time.

I told Monica about one of our boys who was a chorister. She lit up and told us some ‘choir’ jokes.

I learnt there is ‘no democracy’ when you are part of a choir. You simply do as you are told by the conductor. It was a lesson about team working, leadership, vision and working towards a common goal.

I found out she used to work at Harrods in London and then JP Morgan in New York. Monica was proud of her accomplishments which told me a lot about her.

When our boys came round, she connected with them. The icing on the cake was when she told my boys they had exceptional people as parents.

It took a stranger to remind them they are blessed and fortunate.

In a few moments, she was able to show them parenting was on sliding scale of good to bad. She experienced some bad with some good. She got our boys to see they were on the positive end of that spectrum.

On an evening when I least expected it, I made a friend in a lady I could easily have overlooked. All it would have taken was for us not to acknowledge her existence as we sat in a public space.

By simply connecting with her as a human being – no class, no race, no colour and no age – I found myself a unique human being who has been a blessing to others and now to me.

She brought laughter, pride, relief and respite after a tiring day of sight-seeing. I loved her company and was hesitant to leave.

The best gift I could give her was my time and attention, an opportunity for her to relive a happy time in her early adult hood, recall a great friend and the wonderful days of living in London Portobello Road.

Monica was old enough to be my grandmother but easily came across as a friend. I got the gift of connecting with someone on a non-superficial level and got to relive the joy of having a grandmother.

Monica’s path briefly crossed with mine. The more I thought of my take-away’s from that encounter, the more I felt a need to write about her and tell this story as a reminder that we are all connected.

We are all connected but it’s down to us to join the dots and make them visible and real. We do this as we stay present when we run into each other, as we remove our faces from gadgets, and show interest in others. Everyone deserves that.

Thanks for reading my post. I hope it inspires you to connect with others this week. See you next week and please don’t forget to share this post.