solar eclipses, chicken and stars, and cutie-pie old men

This morning there was an annular solar eclipse that was best seen in (dun dun dunnnnnnn) MADRID! Annular meaning not a full eclipse but rather one of the nifty ones where you've got the ring of FIRE around the moon (see left). The last annular eclipses seen in Spain took place like, three centuries ago, so it was pretty much a big deal. So after my 9:30 class, I ran over to the Jardines del Descubrimiento... a plaza/park thing between the school and our posh pad... to see it. Now, clearly everywhere was sold out of the special glasses... that's what happens when you're a chronic procrastinator like myself. So, the plan was to put on my extremely high tech sunglasses from Target (nothing says high quality sun protection like a $9 pair of shades), stare directly at the sun and dare God to strike me blind. (Side note re blindness: ONCE, the national organization for the blind, has its headquarters right by our school... and Joanne has officially tripped like 3 blind people... WITH CANES AND ALL. Oh, and if it comes out that I'm dead, it means Joanne has just read this)

So, I sat myself on an open bench with my sunglasses on, squinted a bit to the right of the sun, and did the rapid look at the sun because darn it, I was GOING to see that ring around the moon. (I'm a geek when it comes to space stuff- shooting stars, meteor showers, comets, the five constellations I can remember from high school astronomy class.. LOVE IT ALL.) Granted I'm sure I looked like I had a case of the twitches, and yes yes yes, I was seeing some white spots (ahem, quite a few actually)... but I saw it! And then, the best part of my day happened. An old man was walking by and he walked past me... then turned around and came back. With a big, earnest grin he said something to the effect of, "now don't look directly at the sun or you'll ruin those beautiful eyes of yours!" MEH! So cute! And then he sat down next to me on the bench and shared his special anti-blindness solar-eclipse-seeing glasses. We passed them back and forth and chatted for a few. And that was it. But, seriously. It's so cliche and obvious and over-said, but it's amazing how a simple gesture of kindness can change a person's day...

Now I had just gotten out of my hour and a half oral communication class after a night of 3 hours of sleep. I had been sitting alone accepting the fact that I would go blind by the age of 23 because I had been too lazy to buy the glasses 3 days ago like I should have. You could say I wasn't in an overly... "animated" mood, let's say. But this little thing that this person who doesn't know me at all did just by sharing his little cardboard glasses changed my mood. He probably went home, I like to imagine to his wife who was preparing a chicken paella or something equally typical and scrumptious (drool, drool... sounds better than my dinners of like, chicken hot dogs with a side of Special K), and continued his day. He probably hasn't thought twice about our 10 shared minutes sitting on that bench passing back and forth his glasses... but obviously his simple kindness had an impact. Ask my roommates... I've mentioned it like 9 times. Who knows, maybe as a result I did something nice today for someone else without even realizing it...

The tiniest thing can make the biggest difference. Someone remembering your favorite ice cream (peanut butter chip from Hallmarks), recalling a shared funny memory (for example, laughing about my swallowing/choking on my witch wig at Cliff's Halloween party during elementary school... and the events that followed...), a simple compliment on a haircut, shirt, necklace (even if it's a lie). Getting a happy birthday call from a person you'd never expect to have remembered (October 17... just enough time to send me that jar of Skippy superchunk...). Someone bringing you chicken and stars soup when you're sick because they remember that one time, years ago, you mentioned that you love chicken and stars when you're sick. Someone who you've just met downloading you a copy of the Alias premiere and dropping it off to your apartment (thanks Angel! You are my hero! Te debo!) Anything... no matter how minor or forgettable it might seem, someone will remember it and will remember you... whether it's for something as sentimental as a well thought out gift from one friend to another for no particular occasion or as seemingly meaningless as someone putting their day on hold for 10 minutes to share their special eclipse sunglasses with a random American gal sitting on a bench.