Potential Power

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

- Leo Buscaglia

I liked the above quote a while back when I first saw it on a friend’s post. It immediately reminded me of my Mom. This was kind of her motto in life. She was the kind of person that lit up a room as soon as she entered it and started a party just by walking through the door. She worked as a merchandiser for Kraft Foods and went around to small grocery stores and checked to make sure none of the Kraft products were out of date and suggested new products to the stores. I went to work with her often when I was home from college or off for the summer.

One thing she always did was what I thought of as “flirting” with the manager… or assistant manager… or who ever she was directed to talk to when she first walked into a store. She totally turned on the charm. Even if she was grumpy in the car or not feeling well- when she talked to the manager her charisma always shot up several points. I asked her once why she did this. Did she know all of these people? Was she working on commission?

She told me that she felt her real job was to make people feel good. She said no one really cared about cheese (well maybe Phillip Morris did!) but she thought it was a good day if people felt better and were in a better mood as she left than they were when she got there. From what I saw~ they always were. J

Happy Birthday Mom.