How significant are insignificant people in ones life? Those people you pass on the street, at a coffee shop or meet on the plane? It is my opinion more and more that those people are not as insignificant as we might think.
I have had the fortune to have such people in my life or maybe it is that I have noticed them more then others might. These people would seem like they don't have a major part in the scheme of things, maybe even their presence is a snippet in your timeline. Some of these people in my life I don't even know or remember their names. However, this does not them make them any less significant.
There was a young woman , I cant even picture what she looked like, that gave me a cedar jewelry box was I was about 7 years old. The smell of the cedar has long since faded as I am sure her young beauty has. However, she is indelibly written into my mind. Specifically her hands reaching out to me and giving me the gift. I am not even sure I ever saw her again. Somehow I had entered her apartment even though it was a couple units from mine. In the 70's it seem pretty routine back then to let children play outside without much supervision. I assume my grandma was watching me and my mother working and I assume she said stay where I could see you. However, I am pretty sure she could not see me from the unit I was in. I still have the cedar box. It keeps traditionally what most little trinket boxes keep, pieces of my life.
In my early teens I had a paper route. There was an older gentleman whose paper I delivered. He would leave peaches in the paper box for me so I could pick them up when I delivered his daily. They were large and round and the sweetest peaches I ever tasted, I can see them and almost remember their feel. It was like he picked the best ones just for me. I never really saw him either but I still wonder if he will be one of the Five People in Heaven I will meet.
Further down my timeline, there was the gentleman who had more of a presence in my life. When I was around 14 years old I started selling programs at the minor league ballpark. My father had died the year before and it started that internal quest of searching for a replacement. This gentleman already in his 60's took care of the baseball field, at the time it was considered one of the best natural turfs in the league. For a short period he became my substitute father figure. He taught me how to plant tomatoes and peppers in a small patch of land near the bullpen. He made me laugh. He always called me Regina, even though my name was Gina because it was the name of Queens. He had that tough exterior and had served I believe in WWII just like my dad. However, there is one memory that I have carried with me. I see him walking over a large bridge in our town approximately 2 miles from the ballpark to come celebrate my high school graduation . He brought roses from his precious prize winning stadium garden and a small coin from his collection. It still brings tears to my eyes to remember his gesture. I hope I was as grateful as I am now. I still go over that bridge in my car ever so often and I see that image. Although he has passed on now , maybe every time I see it in my mind he knows now what it meant to me
Then there was my first grade teacher, Miss Hartman. She was young and pretty and it was her first job right out of college. She entered into a classroom to find a very insecure young girl that was having serious separation anxiety from her mother. A young girl who desperately wanted someone to understand her. I remember she gave me the duty of washing the sink in the classroom bathroom. That one small duty set my confidence in motion. It gave me a purpose. I made that sink the shiniest I could. Till this day I like a shiny sink. Her boyfriend took pictures of her class and gave us copies. The picture which I still possess captures not only my innocent appearance and beauty but my essence . One thing odd sticks out about it, it is slightly soft. Meaning every so slightly blurred. Maybe he was practicing with filters, but I look at it and see a child that was out of focus in life too.
There are many others that I often think about. More recently my mind starts to fade and I periodically call to memory these small gestures of purity. The great impression they made in my life.
I think I have played a insignificant significant person in some peoples lives . I guess the thing about that is you never truly know. I tried when I would go to my sons school and give each child some kind of personal attention. Maybe one thing I did will remain with them. I try to give people my attention if I am up to it . It becomes less and less nowadays but I still try to muster a smile or a thank you. Those things do count I believe.
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