My gifts have no end

originally posted :Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Currently
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
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My "gifts" have no end...

As I sit sipping eggnog in the gentle glow of my Christmas tree I was thinking it has been a while since I have wondered out loud about the little things that I see and experience on a day to day basis..

I have many "gifts" so to speak... I have the gift of attracting bazaar people; chatty cashiers, wandering stock boys, strangers at the gas pump and little old men in the grocery store lineups a multi faceted group of people that have one thing in common... they are all OVER-SHARERS

I was at work, charting a novel about one of my patients when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone I hadn't seen in years... many many years, and as I glanced up our eyes met- the first sign of trouble, so I smiled- my second mistake

I was locked in!
I felt like I was a little space ship being sucked in my the mother ships tractor beam!
I laid down my pen, closed my folder, and stood ready to engage in small talk, the usual pleasantries...
"Oh it's been forever!...how are you doing?...Yes I am a nurse here ( by the way I am a nurse), yes I do enjoy what I do a lot...nope still single... love to travel... blah blah surface stuff...etc etc..." you get the picture .....
but I was not ready for the classic OVERSHARE..like a punch in the stomach.... Oh it's been forever... BAM! I was blindsided with the biggest overshare ever, she proceeded to go into great detail about a recent surgery she had undergone and the many subsequent life changing things happening since the last time I had seen her involving her and her family, her marriage, her kids lives...etc ...
I tried to keep the shock and mild horror from showing on my face as the awkwardness veritably prickled on my skin. I step back she countered with the step in and lowering of the voice--like she needed to get shy now!
nod and smile... she counters with further details, this is obviously not her first tango....I feebly attempted the "I better get back to work"-- hand on arm to keep me nailed to the spot my turn to lead... my left hand to her right shoulder step in.... putting me in motion... step in again and to the side... aiming at the desk to the hub of alarms and beeping that which makes up the station of a cardiac unit... more nodding glance up searching for someone to lock eyes with pleading for an intervention..another step in towards the sanctuary of the station...the vacated station.... it was like a ghost town not a soul in site, I swear I saw a tumble weed roll through and a desk chair spin slowly as if by some unseen desert wind....the same wind drying up the last drop of a chance of me escaping the scenario... only one thing to do turn and ENGAGE.... shields up!

My turn to lead this tango.... one, two, three! the counter strike begins, all smiles, good eye contact, open posture, leaning on the counter with one elbow.. see me I am relaxed, not uncomfortable with all the personal information I am now entrusted with at all! The conversation continues... flurry to the solar plexus... her turn to retreat step back I straighten, one hand on hip the other gesticulating wildly in the throes of a good story about one of my dogs no doubt... step back.. the french side of me takes over laughing jovially while starting in with the other hand now totally engrossed in the story at hand... a story so inconsequential but with enough humour to lure her in and flawlessly change the topic with no one the wiser... add a good crescendo all parties laugh heartily with the closing statement "well, take care.. good to see you"... and CLOSE.

Sound familiar? you too may have this gift as well!

yes my days are rich and full of colorful moments that make up the tapestry which is my life..
thanks for taking a minute to catch a glimpse of the blurring colors.... taste the rainbow