For those of you who don't know, I'm a pizza delivery driver for the time being while I finish up graduate school.
To me, being a delivery lady means a lot of things. It means... I never know who is going to open the door when I get to a house. I never know what they are going to look like or what type of mood they're going to be in. I also never know if they are going to tip me or not. Will they throw a pen and receipt at me because they're angry? Will their dog attack me, or is it going to be nice? Will they come to the door, or will I have to call them and text them a million times? Will they be a lonely older person who just wants someone to talk to for a few minutes? It's truly a mystery. Regardless of all those moving pieces, it is my job to bring them their food.
Last night was a Saturday night. Apparently, Saturday night is also date night for a lot of couples. I encountered several teenage girls who were babysitting kiddos. At each house, all the kids came to the door with the sitter.
One little boy looked like he had been crying. I said, "Hey buddy, are you OK?" He told me he was sad because his parents weren't there. I replied, "I'm sorry you feel sad. Do you think you can have some fun while they're gone? They're coming back in a little while." He wiped his eyes and said, "Yeah..." I asked him if eating pizza would make him feel better. He smiled.
At another house, two kids came to the door with their sitter. These kids weren't sad at all. They were STOKED to be getting pizza for dinner, and they sprinted to the door with glee. While the sitter was signing the receipt, the little boy could not hold back his excitement in talking to me. He waved a Ring Pop in my face, and said, "WE GOT BOOED! Do you know what that is?" Honestly, I had no clue, but I figured it had something to do with Halloween. I said, "Nope! Tell me about it! I've never been booed." He started talking 100 miles per hour telling me about how his neighbors dropped off a surprise Halloween basket filled with candy, cake mix, icing, and some other goodies. I was like, "Wow, someone needs to come boo my house, because that sounds amazing." The sitter handed me my pen and the receipt and was trying to get the kids to come inside the house and leave me alone when the little boy yelled, "I can show you the basket!" The sitter rolled her eyes and told him that she was sure I had other things to do. I said, "It's OK. I have a minute to spare." He ran into the kitchen, grabbed the basket, and ran back to the door. "See! The basket is a black cat! And look at the candy! There's all kinds of stuff in here!" I said, "That's really cool, man. Looks like a lot of fun." The sitter slowly shut the door, but the little boy was still trying to talk to me as the gap got smaller and smaller. When the door finally shut, his older sister smiled and waved bye at me through the glass.
When I left their house, I had to make the drive back to the store to pick up my next delivery. I turned the radio off. As I sat there, I immediately thought, "These are the things we should make time for in life... taking the time to listen to a child's joy and excitement, paying attention when someone looks sad and listening to their feelings, and definitely choosing to wait and see what this whole getting booed thing is about." Why would we not want to take the time to do those things? People are important, and kids especially need to know that they are valued.
I kept hearing the teenage girl's voice over and over again in my head- "I'm sure she has other things to do." Wow. It sounds like she has definitely heard someone tell her that statement before. I wonder how important she felt when she heard that? I mean, I did have other things to do. That was true. But I care. I did not want to dismiss someone's joy regardless of their age. It only took a few minutes of my life to hopefully let a few kids know that a complete stranger cares about them.
And now? I even feel inspired to boo some people.
So please, tell me about the slip and slide you had at your Spiderman birthday party. Tell me that you're 5 years old, and you're excited to be in Kindergarten this year. I am so down for that. I feel like as humans, we should all be down for more of that in our lives.
Let people know that they matter. Care. Be kind. Life is a pizza parable.
