One of the things I love about coastal North Carolina, is that you almost always get a "hello" or "how are you" from a passerby. Especially on the beach. My first couple of weeks taking my daily walks on the beach, the friendliness sincerely surprised me. I am used to walking with my head down, or, conveniently looking at something in the opposite direction from the person who is walking toward me. I'm not trying to be rude, really! It is well, more the norm where I come from, to hurry past this person or that, sticking to your own self and your own hurried thoughts.
I am becoming quite fond of this friendliness, here on the coast, and have adopted its concept for myself. Funny thing is, on that rare occasion, when I am passing someone and I look, and smile, yet they hurry past me without even making eye contact, I find it quite rude! Note to self: Say hello anyway, you just might surprise someone and alter their concept of whats normal.
This friendliness that I speak of here, is not limited to born and raised Tarheels only. Coastal North Carolina calls to many people, from all over the United States, and a lot of those who hear the call, end up moving here.
One December day as I walked the sand on Fort Macon Beach, I ran into a woman who greeted me with a wave. I waved back and noticed she had a bag full of shells. I asked her if she had found anything good, and she pulled out a small shell, about the size of a quarter, resembling a conch. She held it up in her hand proudly for me to see. I told her my daughter, who was down the beach, was feverishly looking for shells of that sort.
The woman handed the shell to me and said "then she should have it". I protested, but she insisted. She told me she was on the hunt for a Scotch Bonnet Shell. Now I have never heard of a Scotch Bonnet, and even though she tried to describe what it looks like, i could not picture it in my head. She said it was the North Carolina state shell, and very hard to find in tact.
She seemed to know her shells, so i reached into my shell bag and grabbed a strange looking shell that I had picked up on the beach prior to meeting her. I asked her "what is this?". The woman instantly got excited and did a little jump saying "its a Scotch Bonnet!". She wanted to hold and study it, so I handed her the shell. Her eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas Day.
She handed the shell back to me, but I told her to keep it. She refused...but I held up my hands and said "it's yours". She gave me a little hug and told me i had made her day. Well she had made mine too. A total stranger who greeted me with a wave and a smile, who offered a gift from the sea, to my daughter, with no hesitation.
I wonder how I would have reacted in her situation. A total stranger tells me, "hey that shell you found is cool, i collect those"...would I have just handed over the shell? Of course I handed over my scotch bonnet to the woman, AFTER she had offered her gift to my daughter. Something to think about. Are we only gracious and generous after we have received the same? Or are we gracious and generous regardless of what we get out of it?
No comments:
Post a Comment