BREATHING EXPERIMENTS and a Surprise Kindness

Ever since I moved here, I've had a silent, internal battle with the yard maintenance crew.  More than half of every Friday, their machinery, some of it oversized scatters dirt and whatever pollen for my allergies to inhale.  So I stay indoors.

This morning, after a month of scary allergies and scary meds, I decided I had to walk.  So I rushed out to try for one lap before the yard guys would arrive.  I was almost back when I saw a friend coming with her walker, and heard the hated sound of a yard man starting some machine.

When friend and I started to chat, the machine was silent.  She went on.  He didn't start his machine.  We exchanged Good Mornings, and he didn't start the machine until put my allergy mask on and was well past him.  After I got inside, I was sure he waited out of courtesy for us.  One kindness like that can change my view for the day. (And once before one of the crew had shut down a machine when I approached with a tissue over my nose.  Sad how I forget those kind gestures.