My nemesis was sitting in the bus shelter.
I met her often on the bus.
Always bitter. Always berating her son.
“He never sends me a birthday card!
He never phones me on my birthday!”
But this time, for the first time, I saw a different side to her.
She had a slight smile on her face. What gives?
“Today is the day I go have my pedicure.
I love my pedicure!”
But the second after, the smile left her face and she went into her familiar tirade.
“yah yah yabh yabh!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I looked her straight in the eye and let her have it.
“When you had a smile on your face and you were happy, you were pretty.
But the moment you started cursing your son, you turned into an ugly old lady.
I’m leaving this shelter and waiting for the bus outside.”
I stomped out and walked back and forth for 10 minutes.
But it started raining. So, reluctantly, I walked back into the shelter.
The moment she saw me, something amazing happened.
She gave me a big smile!
What changed her?
Is it that she realized, perhaps for the first time, that she had a choice.
Being pretty or being ugly was a choice. Being happy or being bitter was a choice.
She chose to be happy...
if only for a moment in time.
