Random apples of kindness

I went downtown to the Farmer's Market this morning and, after filling my backpack with scallions, edamame, a half-peck of apples, cajun cheese curds, raspberries, cilantro, cucumbers, and a decidedly lovely necklace and earrings set from the Himalayan jewelry vendor, I wandered down State Street to another favorite haunt, the Soap Opera, with the intent to scan their clearance rack in the hopes of maybe finding a scratch-and-dent bar of Mistral soap.

I have to tell you, it's been a tough week, full of test cases and brain drain, so I broke down and asked Chuck, one of the owners and a sweet, round, smiling man, to custom-scent some of their High Density Face and Body lotion with Sweet Pea essential oil. He noticed my bag of apples sitting on the counter and commented that he was so glad it was getting to be apple season again. I told him these were Holidays, which is one of my favorite varieties. He wasn't familiar with them until I compared them to a "poor man's Honey Crisp." His eyes sort of gleamed in recognition -- those who have had the Honey Crisp, remember the Honey Crisp. Chuck has always been so pleasant every time I've gone in there, and there's something about him that just makes me smile, so I pulled one of the biggest, nicest-looking apples out of the bag and gave it to him. He seemed genuinely pleased and tucked the apple away behind the counter. As he was ringing me up, he scooted out from behind the register and headed over to the other side of the store, returning a few moments later with a slice of "Big Apple" Primal Elements glycerine soap. "An apple for an apple," he said as he wrapped the soap. I told him I thought I'd gotten the better end of the deal. I know what a slice of that soap costs. Almost as much as I paid for that whole half-peck of apples.

Such a sweet thing to do, and totally unexpected. It made my day.