A Cookie Is Worth A Thousand Words

Last night, as I was standing at the Starbucks counter waiting for my extra-hot soy chai to be served, I noticed a stack of business cards by the register. Or rather, I noticed the name on the cards. It was the same name as that of a very helpful bureaucrat (ordinarily an oxymoron, but not in this case) I’d met with a couple of months earlier to discuss government small business support programs. The cards were advertising photography services, so I memorized the website (not sure why I didn’t just, ya know, take one) and looked it up when I got home. Yup, same guy. In addition to business counseling, he photographs babies and bald eagles in his spare time.  How flippin’ cool is that?

Photo by Chiot’s Run

To my mind? Very. I love, love, love uncovering hidden talents and histories and interests that you’d never figure out from strictly superficial interactions with people. Your boss is in a barbershop quartet. Your new roommate was the state spelling bee champion of Idaho at age eight. Your mechanic speaks semi-fluent Japanese because his family used to take in exchange students when he was growing up. Learning these things is like biting into a regular ol’ oatmeal cookie and discovering that it’s filled with secret chocolate chips.

We spend a lot of time in our heads building and refining our own stories. A lot. Sometimes, we need a reminder that other people have their stories, too. Stories that are just as rich and compelling and conflicting and heart-breaking as our own. The world and the ways we move through it aren’t necessarily conducive to swapping self-reflections, which makes the little behind-the-scenes glimpses into others’ experiences that we’re occasionally granted that much sweeter.