Is that a one-eyed Gizmo!?!?!

My 3 man traveling family band had ourselves an adventure yesterday. Thirty minutes from where we live is a little place called Folsom. We decided to walk their historical downtown area. As we were walking the streets, enjoying all the little shops, we came across some interesting characters. But NONE as interesting as who I’m about to introduce to you.  Ladies and gentlemen I am super stoked for you to meet Gizmo!

Gizmo is a precious 7 year old Pekinese.

Here are some fun facts about Gizmo…

1)      Gizmo only has one eye…sad face…but I think it makes him look like a pirate

2)      Gizmo has been shaved so that he looks like a miniature black lion. Which is AMAZING!

3)      Gizmo, according to his owner, has a tongue that’s so long it could touch the ground. Simply impressive.

4)      Gizmo recently had his own little brush with death when a huge tick attached itself to him. Gross.

 But as you can see Gizmo is doing just fine. That little black puff said, “mmmhmmm! I don’t think so death!” This little guy’s life is a country song waiting to happen. And Gizmo is obviously well enough to continue with, what I can only assume, is a Saturday ritual for him and his owner.

They sit right outside the Pony Express Mall. Gizmo gets his usual attention from passers-bys, and his owner smokes a pipe talking to whoever may stop to gush over Gizmo.  As you can tell I did not catch the owners name…I’m terrible with that….so I will call him “The Guardian of Gizmo”. I do however have a fantastic story to share from the “Guardian of Gizmo”….

The man told his story of “Waffle House Waitress Jackie”. There was a Waffle house the old man use to frequent. That’s where he met Miss Jackie. She worked at the Waffle House as a waitress…and Jackie was always HIS waitress. Jackie was in her 50’s and by the old mans standards very good looking for her age. One day the man came in expecting his usual service from Waffle House Waitress Jackie. He said “hi” to her as he walked in but something was different. Waffle House Waitress Jackie wasn’t her normal chipper lookin-good-for-being-fifty self. She looked terrible! Her hair was a mess…her face looked worn out and just exhausted. So the man tried to continue his normal morning chatter with Miss Jackie. He asked her if the younger man, that had just left as he was getting there, was her son…because the boy couldn’t have been more that 20. Jackie politely replied, “No. Why that’s my younger 19 year old boyfriend.” The old man then said to us, “Well that explained why the poor girl looked so worn out!!!” I almost died. That was the best story I have ever heard from a total stranger.  

I find that this happens to me a lot. Whether I’m with Mark, my sister, or my friends I always seem to run into these random people. I end up having these types of conversations with them (although I honestly do most of the listening than talking) …and hearing the craziest stories.

 I’m sure anyone who knows me could tell you that I’m not a very approachable person, or at least I don’t give off that vibe. But for some reason it’s like I have a doormat in front of me that says “Random People Welcome”…and I actually find it is easy to talk to them. Because it’s not useless chit-chat…pretending that you really give a shit about some meaningless crap that’s going on in someone else’s life (which I don’t do anyways). I genuinely want to hear these stories. Like the homeless women who sat and talked with me for an hour outside of a Starbucks. I liked hearing all her stories from back in the day when her kids were just babies…and about how much she misses them now that they are all grown up. I welcome these kinds of conversations.