Day 10

Yesterday was the 10th day of the project. I had to be at management meeting by 8 so the day started early. I walked again, and was running late...again. I am getting pretty tired of sprinting to work. The humidity was high, and by the time I got to work my hair was wet with sweat. At lunch, I sat at Starbucks and ate the lunch I had saved from the day before. I again requested that any wrongly made drinks be given to me, instead of thrown away. Over time, I've gotten to know many of the employees at the mall, I like to think of us all as neighbors in a small community. Essentially, we all have the same job, and we are expected to do it with a smile. There is a quiet empathy amongst us. First there are the polite, auto-pilot conversations.
*how's business?* and *Don't work too hard*
Slowly over time, our distinct personalities begin to show.
With each interaction the familiarity deepens, and we allow ourselves be seen. I view them more and more like an extended family.

One of the guys that works at Starbucks is also a photographer. He knows about my project, and after a few minutes, he called my name. I was excited to see a huge banana-orange smoothie sitting on the counter. I jumped up to retrieve the defective drink. I asked him what had been wrong with the drink.
"Nothing" he said.
I gave him an enthusiastic thank you and took the smoothie, delighted with his act of kindness. I wondered why he chose to make a smoothie, bypassing the obvious coffee based choices, and I realized he had most likely put some thought into it, and decided on a nutritious "good for you" drink.

I checked my phone and saw that my actual neighbor had sent me a text. He works at the apartment complex and told me I had a package at the office. When I got home, the office was closed but he had offered to go down and grab it for me after dinner. My sister had called earlier and asked if I had received anything in the mail...I said yes but I hadn't been able to get it yet. She was adamant about me getting the package that day. My mom called a few minutes later and also strongly suggested I pick up the package as soon as possible.

My curiosity was piqued.

After he had finished dinner, my friend brought over the package as promised. It was heavy for its size (about a foot by foot cube). We were both curious so I opened it on the spot. My sister had packed me about 10 bananas, some tea-bags, and a couple small bags of trail mix. It was a welcomed care package. I was more excited to get those bananas, than I was on my birthday last year when I got a new Coach purse. I thought about all of the ways I could prepare the bananas and decided to eat them until they start to go brown, and then make some banana bread. I called her up to thank her and she told me it was payment in advance for babysitting this summer. The grocer thought she was crazy when she asked him to look in the back for the greenest bananas possible. They were lime green when she shipped them but by the time they reached me... they were perfect.

Later that night I checked the fridge for something to make for dinner. I realized I had some spinach and cheese tortellini that was going to go bad soon. I also needed to eat the potatoes I had bartered last week. I had two left, so I microwaved them as I boiled the tortellini. I was planning to make mashed potatoes, but realized I needed milk for that. I also didn't have any pasta sauce. My dinner was looking pretty sad.

I checked the pantry and found some cream of mushroom soup. I thought that would make a good pasta sauce, so I put a 1/3 of the can over the tortellini, put another 1/3 in the potatoes and mashed them, and saved the rest of the soup for lunch the next day. The soup worked really well as a sauce and as a milk substitute for the mashed potatoes. That night, I spent some time walking my dog and planning out the next day. I have realized planning is an essential part of living this way. Without planning, and taking responsibility for myself and my needs, I would fail, and without the kindness of others, I wouldn't be able to handle the emotional stress of planning it all.