small exchanges

a short story about bok choy 🥬

Dear friends,

I love smol moments.

I can count with two hands how many times a week a complete stranger comes up to talk to me.

Mostly to ask for directions. Mostly aunties and uncles. Mostly in Mandarin.

Today was a treat. I was at the vegetable aisle in the grocery store looking at kailan. An auntie holds up a packet of veg and asks me earnestly:

“这是什么?” [What is this?]
“日本的，好像白菜。” [It’s like a Japanese version of bokchoy.]
“好吃吗?” [Does it taste good?]
“我觉得不错。。。試吓試吓！” [I feel it’s pretty good…give it a try! (switched to canto by accident)]
“对啊，我试一试吧！” [Yes, why not give it a try!]

She beamed, proceeded to pick two bags, then looked at me again with the biggest smile before thanking me and walking off towards the protein section.

I love these interactions.
I’ll likely never see her again.
We didn’t talk about anything meaningful.
I don’t even know her name.
Yet I left with a smile on my face.
And a lightheartedness that there is goodness in the world.
A smol exchange of kindness—of smiles and gratitude and farewell.
All within seconds.

I can’t help but wonder that Jesus made us for moments like these.
To ‘need’ one another in the smallest of ways.
To be human is to enjoy the most mundane of exchanges.
It’s like a tiny hug for the soul.

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be well, friends! unlike the smol nephews who are quarantined with blistering hfmd:

last week’s deadly tiny hug 💀

love,
reb

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