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No.232

The Strangers Collection #1

There was this lady I met during my first uni year. The first time I encountered her was in the common kitchen of Surrey House - the student hall I lived. It was an early morning and no one woke up yet, especially because most lodgers were hungover from the massive alcohol party that had probably just ended few hours ago.

What you expect from a student party is that: empty bottles of alcohol, cigarette ashes in drinking cups, spilling liquid all over the place, dirty plates, half-eaten food on tables or on the floor.

In general, the after-party is the uninhabitable.

This lady was the cleaner who came every morning to clean the common areas. She usually started her job around 9-10 in the morning and finished by 11-12. I guessed that's why not many students in this hall saw the cleaners, because they probably just started sleeping when the cleaners came.

The mess drunkards caused was seriously disgusting. Therefore, I couldn't really imagine anyone who had to clean up all these would be so excited about the job or even be cheerful.

So when I opened the kitchen door and saw the lady - our cleaner, standing amid such animal-like environment and not at all felt pissed but rather cheerful, I was genuinely amazed.

...

I suppose she had a right to be upset, or even feel offended, and had some sort of anger or disdain towards the group of human so-called 'students'. However, she was just amused. And she laughed a lot. She even joked about the situation, smiling at me and asked "What did you guys do! Geez look at this!'. How she said or expressed herself was nowhere near annoyance or hatred towards us, it's not even close to sermon. She was just genuinely cheerful and friendly and open-minded.

She was just good by nature. I liked her a lot. We exchanged conversations quite openly and I noticed there was always a bright smile on her face. She was funny, she always laughed. Even if there was shit like cleaning up students' mess, the cheer did not disappear from her face. I asked her 'What's your name?'. When she answered me 'My name is Joyce', I couldn't help exclaiming 'Oh, it's so You!' and she laughed again.

...

This lady was full of life. She is, like, JOY. She was full of joy just like the sound of her name. She laughed at the smelly kitchen as if it was funny rather than disgusting and unacceptable. She laughed at cleaning it as if it was fine.

I usually met her in the morning and therefore we talked quite a lot. Usually we would joke about the dirty kitchen as our opening subject (lol) and how "students" could manage to do such deed (mostly every single day).

Never had I seen her lose such beautiful smile in any case. Indeed, whatever it was, she always approached the matter in a cheerful way. 'How many kids do you have?', I asked her as our conversation somehow was led to this. 'Seven', she answered with a bit of guilt but then laughed it off, which made it feel like 'it's not that bad. It's actually really alright'. I could not hide my surprise and saying 'Really! It must be hard on you!' and she just said happily 'No no not at all. The older kids helped me take care of the young ones. It's fine! I love all of them very much!'.

...

You see, when you meet people who are just positive like that, whatever her life is, you could feel positive aura around her, assuring you that her life is just genuinely good no matter what others might choose to think about it.

I was opened to Joyce more than anyone else in Surrey House actually. I guess it is because I just love her. There was one time I made huge portion of spring-rolls and some other dishes to introduce my culture to my roommates. I saved some and put them nicely in a tupperware for Joyce, thinking her kids might like trying some. I wanted to give Joyce something that's why.

The next day Joyce returned my tupperware that had already been cleaned up. And much later, on one of the days near Christmas holiday, to my surprise, Joyce gave me a little present.

When I opened the present Joyce gave me, I found a small handy alarm clock and a note attached to it.The note was hand-written by a kid. Her name was K. She thanked me for the 'delicious' spring-rolls and wished me a merry Christmas.

K. made me feel happy. I smiled a lot since then. And although I was far away from home during Christmas and I was even completely alone in the hall during the entire event, I felt warm in my heart thanks to her.

...Well...

K. was ... Joyce's kid after all. Of course, she could make someone smile wholeheartedly, knowing that Life is a Joy.

...

It has been three years and I still remember Joyce.

And I want to remember her despite not meeting her again.

Because this lady, Joyce, is someone who deeply impressed me with her attitude. Despite having to clean the mess caused by others all the time, she is nowhere near the feeling of bitterness and hatred. By contrast, she is genuinely cheerful and positive. It appears to me that she is content with her life, she doesn't mind being who she is. No matter what, she is always happy and truly appreciates everything she has. Surely she or her kids do not take things for granted.

If I could ever try to find a reason for such optimism and why she could always live like that, the only reason I could ever come up with is that: Joyce is simply a great person - the one that you can't help but admiring, for you have learnt something from her, for you know you are not even as cool as her.

Indeed, to me, she is really cool. She is a great person that I ever met during my first year in university. Before more years pass and new events occupy my mind, I would really like to put the memory of her in a special corner that I could always retrieve. Because even though she is a stranger to me, somehow our paths have once crossed. And in this world-wide with billions of people all around, to coincide with this particularly one but not the other is probably something quite wonderfully weird!

Nice to meet you Joyce.

And I sincerely thank you.

#232nd #Strangers