The smile of a child is beautiful.  It is expressed with innocence and with the full emotion of the moment.  We tend to lose this unaffected expression of our self as adults, but there are exceptions.

There is a young man about 19 or 20 that works at the grocery store where I shop that has worked there about 3 years.  Russ is tall and handsome, enough so that if circumstances were different he might have been a male model.  He expresses himself openly to customers and most seem thrilled to see him.  You see a big part of Russ never left the 5^th or 6^th  grade.

Russ bags groceries and shags shopping carts in the parking lot.  I am uncertain if he works full or part time, but is usually there at the store when I shop after work and on Saturday’s.  Russ smiles at everyone and makes direct eye contact that lets you know he really sees you.  If he knows you often you’ll get a quick hug and he will tell you that he loves you.  Even if you are a stranger he will flash that wonderful smile and say something to you that makes you feel good.  He is always filled with the joy of being alive and in his world people matter most.    In the store I will go out of my way to get into the register line where he is bagging just so I can speak to him.

Yesterday was challenging at work and I was brooding  inside myself when I parked my car in the grocery store parking lot.  As I was walking toward the entrance, there was Russ gathering shopping carts to take back in the store.  He was working diligently as he always seems to be and focused on doing well his task.    I just walked over and told him hello.  Russ’s response was a BIG “How are you?” and he meant it.  Moments before I had been in a funk from my work day, but at that instant all that “junk” melted away.

Maybe it was when he told me he loved me that did it.  Maybe it was the hug.  I am uncertain.  But I certainly know it was Russ and I am very grateful for this boy in a man’s body who is my friend of sorts.  His joy for living and his love for others are so rare.  Some might say God messed on up making him the way he is.  I don’t think so.  I believe God made him just the way he is and put part of an angel in Russ.  He is perfect just the way he is.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.  Melody Beattie