July 1, 2006 This morning I walked down to do some laundry at my corner Laundromat/café. I was exhausted and feeling particularly in my head today since I had lain awake all night obsessing over matters of the heart that are out of my control. I walked through the doors….heart hurting, consumed by my own thoughts. The Laundromat was populated with the usual crowd of brooding bohemians, angry punk rockers and hot Euro-kids from the hostel down the street. Everyone was reading or on their lap tops, no one acknowledging each other. I was right at home in a solitary land of self obsession.
I went to get change at the dollar bill changer and as I was fishing in my pocket for the least distressed bills I had (to avoid having to reinsert them endlessly) a little boy and his father walked up to changer next to me. The boy was about 3 years old with red hair, a baseball cap and jeans. He watched intently as his father put a 20 dollar bill in the changer. A few seconds later 80 quarters came pouring into the tray like a Vegas slot machine. (I've always loved that sound, even though it's your 20 dollars the sound of all that coin hitting the tray is a lovely noise.) The boy was AMAZED. He stood back, his mouth opened wide as he yanked off his baseball hat and threw his hands on top of his head. He jumped up and down and yelled at the top of his lungs…… ”WOW!!! Oh my god…oh my god……oh my GOD!!! Look at all the money! That's amazing!!” Then he turned to the rest of us and screamed: “Hey you guys, there's enough for ALL of us now!!!” “Wow dad look, that's more than I have in my piggy bank. That's just diabolical!!” I lost it. We all started laughing. He went on and on about how amazing it was. A simple dollar bill changer through the eyes of a 3 year old boy became this wondrous thing, and apparently it was diabolical . Even hearing the word diabolical come out of a 3 year olds mouth is enough to make you spit out your double latte. I wanted to hug that kid. He snapped me out of my head and made me remember that there is still wonder in the world….even over the smallest things.
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