Bellingham, Washington:
Walked my walk on the boardwalk. Before I drove home, I thought I’d check with the youngest son and his wife and see if there was anything I could bring them. The answer: A fruit smoothie.

I drove to the juicer place (Refresh Juice) on Cornwall, but it wasn’t open, yet, so I walked to the vegan bakery (Wild Oat Bakery and Cafe) down the street to see what I might find there. And I found all kinds of fun there. I ended up buying a slice of banana nut bread for the son and a cupcake for myself and had a cheery conversation with Nolan who was manning the counter.

I left with my loot and saw a young man with a sleeping bag. I thought he probably needed the cupcake more than me and offered it to him. He happily accepted it.

Then a young woman in a sleeping bag called out a hello to me. I asked her if there was something I could get her and she said a bag of chips. “Just chips?” I asked. “Could I get you something from the bakery?” She said that would be great.

So I went back to Nolan and explained my situation. Nolan started grinning when I told him I’d given away my cupcake. “Spreading the love!” he said. I told him it had started with his kind smile. I bought a scone for the woman and a cookie for myself and told Nolan he might be seeing me again in a few minutes. He started cracking up.

I brought the scone to the woman and went to the juice store. It wasn’t open, yet, but I thought I’d just work on my word puzzles while I waited. The juice shop ended up opening five minutes early and I was the first customer. Teagan and Kristen were fun and efficient and quickly presented me with the smoothie for my son and friendly smiles to take with me. They let me take their photo.

Now I went back to Nolan and asked him if I could take his picture, too. He graciously agreed. I announced to all my fellow patrons that Bellingham is full of the nicest people and, on that note, made my exit.

I stopped by the sock shop (Crazy Socks) on my way back to my car – I wanted to get some socks for my daughter-in-law. Reed was working the counter there and quickly helped me find some cat socks and a pair of otter socks, too. And, of course, I had to take a picture of Reed.

Socks, banana bread, and smoothie were successfully delivered to the son and daughter-in-law, and I brought home all the smiles I’d collected for myself.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Originally publised on bellinghambayblog.wordpress.com.)