Happy Holiday Shopping

I enjoyed online shopping a lot. It was time efficient, less human interaction /interference and gave my daily life some persistent small expectations. However, I did have a great real life holiday shopping experience recently.

I managed to get to the downtown. The main purpose for the trip was to activate my new android phone. In less than 20 minutes, I got it set up and found myself wandering the streets aimlessly.

I stepped into a footware store and received an instant greeting from a middle aged guy.
"What can I help you today?"
"just look around...nothing in particular." I said absently.
Usually, I expect that would be the end of the conversation. However, he carried on the conversation by asking,
"What kind of sports do you do?"
"Me? Kickboxing." I started to pay a little bit attention to the guy. He is about medium height and has a masculine figure.
"Try vibram." He suggested.
"Oh you mean those five toes shoes?"
"Yes. Kickboxing requires frequent pivoting on the ball of your foot. You need a good pair of shoes to give support ."
I was surprised because what he said was absolutely true. I didn't observe that much requirement of the pivoting of the foot and hip in other sports activities. Nor did I expect a salesman would know in such details.
"That is very true. I wore asics running shoes to the classes." I started to take the conversation seriously.
"Well, that is different. Try vibram. You will know the difference."
"Size 7." He measured my feet.
"Yeah, that was expected."
He brought me a pair of new shoes. I didn't expect it was so hard to put those shoes on. My toes refused to separate as the shoes want them to be. I got frustrated.
"It takes some time initially. No rush. " He said.
He sat beside me watching me to separate the toes clumsily.
" I was a professional kickboxer before. I was in tournaments."
"Oh really?", I stopped trying on the shoes and stared at him.
"I hurt my left shoulder because the bag I tried to punch was too far from me." He said.
"What a pity! Does it heal now?"
"Yes. But I was not able to go back any more."
"My teacher was also a professional before. She run into financial problems in 2008 and had to switch to teaching." I felt a little bit sorry for him and tried my best to continue the conversation.
"I can imagine that." He nodded.
" I love kickboxing. I finally put them on!" I stand up.
"It is a great sports. Now show me some kick." To my surprise, he pivoted slightly and suggested me to kick his left leg.
"I can't do that." I looked at him.
"Try it." He encouraged.
"Ok." I put my hands over my head and did a fast kick.
"Nice kick, young lady."
" Thanks, thanks. Now I know what you talked about. The whole control of pivoting through my feet and strong support." I looked at him happily.
"Yes." He smiled.
Unfortunately, the store didn't have the size of the style I like. I felt sorry.
"No worry. Remember the size and look online. Wear the shoes to your kickboxing classes." He comforted me.
"I will. Thanks for the help. And happy holidays!" I gave him a big smile.
"Happy holidays!"

The next stop was a small Jewelry store to enrich my personal earring collections. It was very crowded by people who were looking for holiday gifts. The checkout line was further slowed down by the exquisite gift packaging requirements.
"I don't need gift packaging. It is for myself." I handed the ear ring to an elegant old lady behind the counter.
"ok. I will put in a small pouch for you then. How beautiful the ear ring is. I am pretty sure it was just out this morning." She complimented.
"I don't know why I always prefer gold and black combination." I said.
"Yeah, it is stunning. And black matches your hair and eyes." She smiled.
"Yeah, maybe. A part of me always want to be stunning." Both of us laughed.

Stepping outside the Jewelry store, my next stop is my love and hatred, lulu lemon. Notoriously expensive but comfortable, the shopping experience is beyond words and forgetting very fast purposely. :-)

The last stop is that famous Korean bakery store with "Paris" in its name and Eiffel tower as its icon. I randomly sampled some bread and proceed to the checkout.
"Your ear muff looked really cute." The in-season white fluffy ear muff with blue flash light made her look very pretty.
"Oh, if you pre-order a cake, you can get that too." She handed me the brochure.
"Maybe it is a good idea to get one and wear it to the Sandy's SF concert." I thought to myself.
"It is very expensive also." A young guy interrupted eagerly.
Both the girl and me didn't know how to respond to his words. Suggesting the real value of such a cute stuff was not helping indeed. There was a silent awkwardness before three of us burst into laugh at the same time.
"I will think about it. Thanks." I said.

My shopping trip came to the end. I think I enjoyed it so much because of those fleeting community moments with others. The moments can be transient but uplifting.