i promised 3 weeks ago i’d get grandpa’s watch
fixed, and by fixed, i mean replacing the battery. i totally forgot about it
until thursday night when he asked me about his watch. i lied to him and said i
dropped it off at the shop, but they haven’t gotten back to me yet. i told him
this weekend it should be done. so today, i went to the mall and pulled up to a
random kiosk that said watch batteries on top. when i approached, i didn’t
think anyone was there, but i walked around the other side and it was an older
gentleman there. i asked if he could replace the battery for the watch as i
showed it to him. he said he could do it no problem. he pulled out his notepad,
wrote something on it, and changed the battery within a minute. as he was
working on the watch, he asked what i did. i told him i was in vaccine
development and he told me he got the pfizer vaccine. he went on to mention one
of his family members work on vaccines and told him that the life expectancy of
humans without vaccines would be 33 years-old. i told him that it’s true and
that my dad says they say clean water and vaccines are the top 2 things
responsible for extending the human life expectancy. he handed me grandpa’s
watch and i paid before he said god bless. i wished him a good day before i walked
off thinking of how positive the interaction was albeit how short it was. then
i came to the epiphany that our days are filled with more positivity than we
realize.
all it takes is a little more patience during reflection, and we’ll see our days aren’t that bad after all.
-ratha, 3:35pm, 7.10.21