THINGS I NOTICED TODAY...

There was a table of older friends who were sitting right in front of me at the cafe. 

Two bald-headed men and three women with gray hair that caught the light overhead. 

Their physical movements reaching for their cappuccino were slower, than the millennials who were multitasking work and texting beside me, while sipping their international specialised batch.

The older friends' heads were not plugged into a headset. 

They weren’t in a hurry to gulp their coffee down. Yet their conversation was rich with energy. There was laughter from a joke, like they were in on something the rest of us wish we knew about.  

It was obvious we were the ones numbed with overwhelming brain-load as we scrolled aimlessly on our devices, completely unaware of how to have a good time.

One of the old men sat with his arms crossed, a broad smile across his face while a young Sri Lankan girl delivered the carrot cake to their table. 

I wasn’t sure what he asked her, but it must have been something about her day, her life, because I heard parts of her reply.

“Studying at uni ………. Part time job….. hope you enjoy your carrot cake!”

They all smiled at each other and agreed, when she left, that she was a smart young girl and yes, the cake, especially the icing, was delicious.

The second older man had a pen in his pocket. One of those beautiful gold pens on which you could engrave the name of the owner. Can you even buy those anymore? 

I wondered what he wrote with it. Do people even write anymore?

I eventually left the cafe to wander the book store. I asked the lady at the counter if she had a book by my favourite author - I had been looking for it for a while and was hoping to save myself the delivery wait.

“No, sorry. She is an International author isn’t she?”

“Yes.” She had written quite a few books over the years and they, unfortunately, always seemed hard to find. And yet the way she wrote, the way she viewed everyday life was so incredibly inspiring I was always left desiring to read more.

“Sorry to tell you but even our warehouses don’t have them. You could be in for a long wait. You may need to order online.”

So, I asked her for another masterpiece, written by my other favourite author.

Again, she apologised and directed me to online stores with at least a month’s wait.

Frustrated, I thanked her for her help. 

I looked around and noticed the books that were bright and sparkly and showy with covers intended to lure customers in the front door. Urgggg. 

Where had all the good writers gone? Why so many self-help books, and “Power-to-me-and-all-I-have-achieved-and-look-at-all-the-stuff-I-own-and-see-I’m-naked-on-the-cover-because-someone-told-me-sex-sells-and-I’m-not-going-to-live-for-anyone-but-myself-because-I’m-so-so-important-and-you-can-be-too.” books? (Too real? I was obviously in a mood.)

I noticed a bin on my way out with a sign that said - “General waste”. I was tempted to put all the books on the front table straight into it and go back and join the old friends.

Maybe I’ll ask that gentleman - the bald one, eating carrot cake, who talked to strangers and ask him to use the pen in his pocket to write a few words.

“Enjoy one another.” – that’s what I think he would have written in a long scribbly text.

“Laugh together and be kind to strangers.”

“Stay interested and curious!”

“Look around! Take your headphones off and listen to the songs within you!” I’m sure he would have written with a cheeky smile.

“Skim your finger over the icing of a carrot cake and close your eyes to truly taste it. Go slow.”

Oh, and lastly - “Carry a pen in your pocket and write down all the beautiful things you notice today.”

It would be a grand book. 

A book I would buy. A book I would place at the front table of every bookstore. It would be simple. With nothing to distract it from the beauty and power within the words. 

This book, I hope, would also lie on the table of humanity’s heart to remind them, to remind us - the mulitasking millennials and busy CEOs, the mothers with a thousand lists of things to do - to take the pen out of our pockets and begin to notice things in this magical world all around us. 

Maybe it will be a bestseller. 

Maybe it might change the way our over-loaded brains think and re-teach us how we were truly meant to live.