Unspoken Words

I make my living connecting words that will inspire people to connect to a mission, so I enjoy, ingest and play with words until they speak what's in my heart, my mind and a deeper place where words begin to form. To say I appreciate a good pun, metaphor or turn of a phrase is a gross understatement. I get tickled often by the arrangement of words, whether spoken or written.

Yesterday, I just about doubled over with delight when I "got" the intended meaning of a lovely young man, who works behind the counter at the corner convenience store. I stop in every day on my way home to get a soda. He's always very cordial, complimentary and tries to engage me, which I usually meet with polite, but guarded responses. Each day, I hand him a one dollar bill and a penny and he gives me back a nickel, followed by the question, "Is there anything else you want?" To which I always respond, no thank you. Yesterday, there was something different in the way he posed his recurring question. His tone of voice, the raising of an eyebrow as the words poured across his lips, the slight pivoting of his head and twinkle in his eye, as if to punctuate his true meaning. I don't blush often, but in that exchange, I blushed, giggled like a pre-pubescent teenager and said, "No thank you."

I just love the unspoken word, the rare exchange that happens when people are awake and aware of each other.