Hot sauce

A few years ago, I was walking through a WalMart. We all know what a joy that can be. You encounter rude people, dirty people, perverted people (ask me sometime about the exhibitionists who were arrested in a Wal Mart, on a garden swing, for performing an act similar to eating a popsicle that is best witnessed by only the people involved) and usually at least one person who you are pretty sure just escaped from the local hospital for the criminally insane. If you need verification, ask the guy who trained me for the job I had then. While we were working on software, a sweet little old lady came over to us and asked about a coffee pot or a blender or something of the sort. He started to explain to her, “I'm sorry, we don't work for Wal Mart...” but before he could finish, she piped up with “and I bet you wouldn't know your ass from a hole in the ground.” You have to wonder if she kisses her grandchildren with that mouth. (Ironically, someone else said the same thing to me in a store 90 miles away a year or so later.) Must be a PA thing.

In any case, it's not often that you run into Wal Mart shoppers who bring a smile to your face just being who they are. I came across a couple that must have been in their 70's for the third time that day while I was walking up an aisle looking for the fixture I needed. I don't know why, but they fascinated me. They just exuded happiness and comfort or something that gives a person warm fuzzies inside. They each shopped for the other and finished each others thoughts in the way that only years of being together allows.

While they shopped, I watched and was close enough to over hear the wife say to her husband as she pulled down a bottle of hot sauce, “do you want to try this? It says it's hot and spicy.”
Her husband responded, “It doesn't matter, it won't be as hot and spicy as you.” He then grabbed her and kissed her and they both giggled like love sick teenagers.

I refrained from giggling myself; let's face it, people are freaked out by people watchers (which I am), some people are downright irritated by eavesdroppers (but in my defense, they were close enough for me to hear anything they said above a whisper...but I would have gladly taken the heat to witness that exchange).

I don't know why, but I've been thinking about that couple for a few days. Maybe it's the whisper of spring making me feel all romantical inside, or maybe it's the simple fact that from day to day I see so many miserable people who seem to be with the person they seem to so loathe and apparently have no aspirations to be anything more than angry. Whatever it is, I guess it's nice to remember that there are happy people--happy couples--out there who've struggled through their ups and downs, have been spitting mad at each other and still are the spice in the others life.

May we all be so lucky to be another's hot sauce as we grow old.