Gratitude in the park

Today I spent the day in Dolores Park with a new friend and her sweet boyfriend.

Eventually the conversation turned to scars and I whipped out my three ankle scars and said “are you ready for a story?”

I told them the Sunday-in-the-park version of the fell-of-a-balcony-almost-died story. I focused on gratitude and ended with the sticker as I wrapped it up. As I finished the story and we all appreciated the importance of being grateful to be alive, I threw several stickers at them as they both showed me the goosebumps on their arms.

Five minutes later I stood up and noticed a woman on a nearby blanket with my sticker on the back of her jacket. I quietly pointed it out to my friends and asked if one of them put it there. They hadn’t.

So I walked over to her, kneeled down and said “I just want to tell you, I make these “be grateful” stickers and one of them somehow ended up on the back of your jacket.”

She had no idea it was there but once I told her, she and her friend continued to check on it and make sure it was still there.

Eventually another friend of hers started talking to us and said that he found a sticker on the ground and put it on her jacket. At that point she told me, “I just had surgery and it went really well and I AM grateful!”

So I threw three more stickers into the middle of her group and we all went on our way. Bless you park strangers. WE ARE GRATEFUL.