On A Brighter Note...

... Aaron and I ran up the street to Metropolitan Market yesterday to pick up some paninis to grill. We went as soon as he got home from work so he was still in his flight suit (and new leather flight jacket! I like it so much better than the green one... and he got it for free after completing his dollar ride). Let me preface this story with the fact that I had some preconceived notions about the people out here in ole Washington State prior to moving here that I'm not very proud of... in the same way that I'm sure people here have some interesting ideas about us good ole cousin-kissing southerner's ;) (insert THICK sarcasm there...we southerners don't really do that... at least not where I come from) But a good ole traditional patriotic appreciation for our troops and what they do (some on a daily basis) was not a characteristic that I had attributed to Pacific Northwesterners when I was stereotyping them to prepare myself to move here. Coming from Enid, Oklahoma where you can't walk into a grocery store without someone seeing your military i.d. and offering up the discount you didn't even know was available to you, Aaron and I weren't quite expecting hospitality like that around every corner of Tacoma. And while I'm sure not everyone here is like this, just like not everyone in the south is like this either, while standing in the panini line at this "posh" market in the Proctor District, a lady in front of us otherwise minding her own business (and who looked, from mere appearances, like she may lean a little to the left politically) turned around and said to Aaron simply "Thank you for serving..." and smiled politely and turned back around. Out of all of the kind gestures I've seen since I've been here (and there have been many- from compliments on my rainboots just about anywhere I go, to some of the friendliest neighbors just walking down the street in front of our house stopping to say "hello" and "welcome to the neighborhood"...) that was by far the one that made me (and Aaron) smile the biggest. And it made me so proud to be out in public standing there next to him. Definitely one of my biggest ever "Proud to be an American" moments (cue Lee Greenwood)....