Five Minute Conversations - GODIVA

Almost every day I find myself in short conversations or connections with absolute strangers. My family usually laughs at how I can find out so much about people in such a short period of time. We all have these connections and some impact us more than others. I started writing a few of mine down about a year ago so that I wouldn't forget how these people touched my life.

February 2009 - New York City

My husband went into the Godiva Store on Madison Avenue to pick a few choice morsels for our weekend in the City. There was a lovely young woman waiting on George when I walked into the store. He pointed out the pieces he had picked for me, none that I wanted as soon as I saw the dark chocolate Mandarin Orange Crescents! The saleslady very very patiently put back the ones George had chosen and added the crescents to the bag. Then I saw them....dark chocolate Grand Marnier truffles! Many Godiva stores don't carry them, perhaps because of the liquor content. I asked the young woman to add two to the bag. She apologized and said she couldn't because, and she pointed to the sign on the wall I hadn't noticed, truffles have to be sold in a ten count. I sure didn't want ten, just two! My husband rolled his eyes as I tried to wheedle a sample from our saleswoman. She started laughing and explained that she just couldn't, but that she had really enjoyed talking to us and that we were the first customers who had made her laugh since her brother passed away three weeks earlier. I wanted to give her a hug but the counter was too high, so I told her how sorry I was and asked what had happened. LaShaun explained that she's 28 years old and her brother, just 12 years older, had a massive heart attack. She talked about how close they had been and how very much she missed him. She started to tear up and thanked us for being so nice. As we left the store, my husband rolled his eyes at me and asked why I had to engage everyone, everywhere in conversations. Personally, I think it's my gift and I'm going to start writing down these "five minute conversations" just to remember how wonderful it is when you connect with other people. I found two Grand Marnier truffles in our little gold Godiva bag later that afternoon.