You are getting so big!

I was at a convenience store a few days ago and as I was standing in line the cashier began to talk to a woman and her son. The boy was about 10 years old and the cashier was remarking about how big he was growing. I watched for his reaction as she was complimenting him. He leaned forward, placed his hands on the counter and went up on his tip-toes as far as he could. He made himself even taller. He was beaming from ear to ear to hear such positive comments about himself. Then his mother began talking to the cashier about the fact that her son plays trumpet in the band at school and they had a concert last night. The mother went on to say how great the concert was and how well her son played trumpet. If he had smiled any bigger I think his face might have broken.

That interaction took less than a minute, then his mother handed him his donut and they headed out the door. I stood there thinking about how incredibly happy and secure he felt in the fact that he was noticed and appreciated. I looked around at the other adults in the store and realized that none of us get compliments about how big we have gotten (we tend to get wider not taller) and most of us do not have a cheerleader who notices our special gifts and tells others about how special we are.

Then I thought, 'why not?' Why don't we dig deep and notice something special about those around us. Why don't we go out of our way to be complimentary to others? Doesn't a 30, 50 or 70 year old need it just as much as a 10 year old? We could leave a trail of smiles behind us throughout our day.