Episode 19: November Rain

So never mind the darkness

We still can find a way

'Cause nothing lasts forever

Even cold November rain

— Axl Rose, 1991

As September rolled into October, Bulgaria would receive a record-breaking amount of rain fall. Astonishingly, there was only one dry day during the entire month of October — an unbelievable measure that is typically reserved for November, I am told. On that one sunny Sunday, while standing at the corner market waiting to buy some green grapes, I ran into my next door neighbor. My neighbor's a typical attractive and stylish Bulgarian woman running somewhere between her late 20s and early 30's — and very friendly. I've actually run into her on many occasions, but this time, our meeting would mark the first time we'd stop and chat for a moment.

You see, usually when I see this neighbor coming in my direction, I'm either trying to get far away fast as possible or I'm looking for the largest vehicle possible to jump on top of. Why? Well, this friendly neighbor just happens to be the owner of one of them giant-sized, drippy-mouthed Irish wolfhounds, who, for some reason, loves to chase me and only me. And like most Bulgarians who don't believe in leashes, my friendly neighbor walks her big wolfhound bare necked and free — making it easy for old drippy mouth to chase me right up on top of a car every time. It happens so often now, that it's become somewhat of a neighborhood norm around here — usually resulting in a very giggly, yet, apologetic response from my friendly neighbor.

Well like I said, this time when I saw her the wolfhound was no where in sight. So anxiously and urgently, in a typical broken East European accent, the first words she uttered was, "I'm very sorry that my dog chase you so much." Giggle free and eyes brows raised high, her apology seemed earnest this time. So earnest that I hadn't the heart to tell her to put a damn leash on that mutt or else! Instead, I just flashed a big smile and told her, "No worries, your dog has been helping with my sprints."

She erupted in laughter and asked me the usual questions Bulgarian strangers ask upon meeting me for the first time, like, where are you from and why are you here? After we got out the usual, usual — the next words that came out of her mouth would make its number one debut as the nicest thing any Bulgarian would ever say to me. She said, "whenever I see you — you make the rest of my day wonderful."

Overcome with blush, and even a little embarrassment, I shyly thanked her. I wanted to reciprocate the response with, whenever I see you, I feel frightened each time — but I wasn't sure if my sarcasm would go over well, so I refrained and went about my way. But as I walked back to the condo, green grapes in hand, I was still a bit flabbergasted over the woman's comment. What did she mean by it? How could seeing me make the rest of her day wonderful? I mean she hardly knew me, right? So later in the day I recanted the same story to Sarah to see what she could make of it. And of course Sarah's reasoning would make the most sense. She said that perhaps my neighbor sees me as a reminder of all those moments when I run from her dog and jump on top of a car in fear — resulting in a good chuckle, in turn making the rest of her day wonderful. And as much as I'd like to believe that my neighbor thinks I'm a day-maker because of my smile, style or looks — I think my girl from the north country's explanation is right on the money.

Oh, well. I guess it doesn't really matter. The fact that I make my Bulgarian neighbors day wonderful whenever she sees me is still pretty awesome.

Speaking of wonderful days, I recently got an email from a good friend from DC that I met at an old job once where I spent a lot of wonderful days. The friend's name is Rishi. And if you've been a regular Blog-O-Daria reader, then you just might be familiar with him. He's been a recurring character in several episodes, most notedly, Episode 15, where I told the story of how Sarah and I met for the first time. It was during one of Rishi's concert performances of one of three or four bands that he plays a mean lead guitar in. So I guess you can say that if it wasn't for my man Rishi, this blog would be an empty space.

The job where Rishi and I met was called Heldref Publications, a non-profit educational publishing house founded by the late Jeane Kirkpatrick and her husband Evron. Heldref was a main source or connection to many of my long lasting friendships and, might I add, even some romantic ones. In recent times, after receiving some (clears throat) rather high praises on my Blog-O-Daria writings, I have been promising myself to write a book about my entire working experience at Heldref. Okay, I'll bet a lot of you are saying to yourself — a book about a job? Owen, who's going to want to read about that? Well, I won't go into details why someone would want to read it — I'll only say that in the 15 or so years in association with Heldref Publications, I've experienced and witnessed some of the most unusual and bizarre happenings that one could never even dream up. Happenings that would even make the writers of the critically acclaimed British sitcom The Office overcome with amazement.

Anyway, Rishi's email informed me that he and Livia, another good friend and fellow Heldref alumnus, were taking a trip to Spain. Barcelona to be exact. And in a joking kind of way he suggested, "come out an meet us! Bulgaria is just a hop and a skip away from Spain!" And although he was joking, he really was half right. I mean, of course, Bulgaria is not that close to Spain — but it's a hell of lot cheaper and closer for me to get there from here than if I were still living in The States. So I gave it some thought.

And seconds later, after singing out loud in that Hoyt Axton kind of way; "Well, I've never been to Spain, and I kinda like the music. And it's been a long time since I've seen Rishi and Liv, so what the hell am I waiting for!?!" I ran out the room and told Sarah of my plans. Surprisingly, she'd never been to Spain and was game to go, too. And later that night, she mentioned it to our friend Nevena, who'd never been to Spain and was game as well. So in no time at all, we purchased tickets to Spain! Barcelona to be exact.

There was just one piece of the puzzle missing.

No trip to Spain, to meet up with fellow Heldref alumnus, would be complete without the inclusion of my boy Steve "Bunks" Smith. And like Rishi, regular readers will also remember Steve as another recurring character in the Blog-O-Daria series. He even had a starring role once in Episode 5, when he came out to visit Sarah and I. And like Rishi to Episode 15, Steve is also a very crucial piece in my meeting Sarah. But after Rishi and I sent Steve a couple invitations, practically begging him to come aboard, he wouldn't budge. His excuses were that he'd already been to Spain and limited finances. Which, in his defense, were totally understandable. But I was still bummed out about it.

So bummed out that I had to pull out my dirtiest of the dirty tricks to get him to change his mind. I hated to do it to him, but it had been a good while since I'd seen him and as mushy as it may sound — I kind of missed him. And it only took one word to convince him to come. The one word that works every time.

Girls.

And before I could blink an eye, I'd gotten an email from Steve saying he was definitely on board with us to our trip to Spain. Barcelona to be exact. And now that Steve was on board the circle was complete. The Big Barcelona Reunion was underway.

They're calling us together

Guiding us forever

Wish my dream

would never go away

— Freddie Mercury, 1987

I was more than excited to see Spain. It had been pretty high up on my long list of dream destinations. But to be perfectly honest most of my excitement didn't generate from the anticipation of Spain, it was the anticipation to reunite with my old Heldref buddies — Rishi, Livia and Steve. Unfortunately, my excitement to see the old crew may have played a part in me losing something highly important. You see, during my flight over to Spain, I lost a long time companion of mine named Little Red, my trusty iPod Shuffle, who had been by my side for many of my world travels, adventures and workouts. I once even smuggled it into a Washington DC Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run!

I named it Little Red because it was about an inch in diameter and red all over. I also had The Beatles inscribed on the back. Unfortunately I didn't realize it was lost until the plane was long gone. It was a reminder that nothing lasts forever. But knowing full well that my iPod was somewhere lost on that plane back to Bulagaria, I still searched my luggage — inside and out. But of course, it was no where to be found. I felt like crying.

Sarah must have sensed that Little Red meant a lot to me. So as I sat on an airport bench looking sadder than a little boy who's dog had just been hit by a truck, she made her way to the airport information desk to see if any flight attendants had returned Little Red to the lost and found department. But nothing came up. Sarah helped ease my sadness by reassuring me that I'd find a Little Red replacement in Spain. And although nothing would ever replace Little Red, the idea of finding another iPod Shuffle was still therapeutic and relaxing.

Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica
I’m flying in on a DC-10 tonight

— Joe Strummer & Mick Jones, 1979

It was late in the night when we finally arrived in Barcelona. Sarah and I first rendezvoused with Nevena at the airport where the three of us headed to our cozy little hostel located near the city's center. Then the call came in from Rishi and Steve. As suspected, they were already out on the town. Just hearing those dude's voices over the tele was pretty damn awesome!

When I finally got to meet up with my former Heldref homies, it was evident right away that everyone was still the same. The chemistry just fell right into place just like old times. Bunks was still the same old Bunks, Rishi was still the same Rishi and Liv was still Liv. There was just one piece of the puzzle that was connected a slight bit tighter than usual. Rishi and Liv had become closer friends.

Real close.

Unfortunately, being 6,000 miles away from everything, I'd only heard tiny rumors of their newly formed union. I even had my doubts if there was any truth to these rumors. And to be quite honest, I'd given up all hope of anything ever happening between the two. So you can imagine just how shocked I was to see that they'd finally become the perfectly-matched, ultimate hipster couple that everyone connected in the circle was hoping for. I actually had to take a minute or two to adjust myself. I took Steve aside and had a word with him about not warning me of it all. But like classic Bunks, he just looked at me with that you didn't know look on his face and filled me in. Anyway, after the initial surprise, I couldn't be happier for the two of them. At times during the duration of the trip, seeing them together got me all giddy and giggly inside just like a little school girl.

The trip lasted a little over 3 days, but it was short and sweet. The weather in Barcelona was perfect, too. Mild temperatures and not one drop of rain. So just being away from dark rainy weather in Bulgaria was a treat to start with. The 6 of us chilled a whole lot, dinning out in Barcelona's delicious restaurants, reminiscing of the old days of Heldref and DC. After the initial meeting, I was a tiny bit worried whether or not Sarah and Nevena would gel with Livia, but thankfully the girls got along just fantastic. I kind of figured Sarah and Liv would get along well. And at times, I would even spot the two of them off on their own, chatting it up and stuff.

Besides chillin' harder than Chilly Willy with a fat stack of pancakes, we also got around to seeing some of the riches of Barcelona, such as some iconic Spanish locations like Plaça Catalunya, a large square in central Barcelona where the old city and the 19th century-built Eixample meet, the Torre Agbar, a 38-story tower in the Business District, the busy streets of La Rambla, The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, often simply referred to as La Boqueria, the largest public market in the Ciutat Vella district, and last but not least, live music and dancing inside the gorgeous and exotic Park Güell, a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district, designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.

Speaking of Gaudí, until Sarah had informed me literally a day or two before our trip to Spain, I sadly, and rather embarrassingly, never heard of Barcelona's most iconic figure. But to make up for lost time, I not only got a first hand history lesson of the great Spanish architect, I was a first hand witness to some of his greatest works, such as the Casa Batlló, a building restored by Gaudí himself, located in the Eixample district of Barcelona and his masterpiece, The Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, commonly referred to as the Sagrada Família, a large Roman Catholic church and one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of Barcelona. But due to the artists' untimely death, it remains unfinished to this day.

Speaking of artists, Sarah got the opportunity to see the works of one of her favorite painters of all time, Pablo Picasso at the Museu Picasso. This elegantly designed museum holds one of the most extensive collections of artworks by the late 20th century Spanish painter. And while I am on the subject, I can honestly tell you that I have never been a fan of Picasso's works. However, I have tremendous respect for his genius and contributions to modern day art. And it was especially wonderful to see a large number of his early works for the first time, which I appreciate more so than his latter abstract pieces.

Unfortunately, my prospects of finding a new iPod Shuffle in Barcelona to replace Little Red seemed bleak. Earlier during the trip, my hopes were raised when Livia thought she spotted an Apple Store on La Rambla. But after a few thorough searches, what she thought she saw turned out to be a mirage or vision I suppose —because there was not an Apple Store in plain sight. And to make matters worst, my traditional whenever I visit a new country CD/DVD shopping spree I'd planned on doing in Spain looked even bleaker because it wasn't until late Saturday night, a day before I was set to leave, when I discovered an alleyway filled with a dozen or so exquisite looking mom and pop's CD/DVD shops that Barcelona has to offer. Oh and to make matters worst — most, if not all, businesses were closed on Sundays in Spain — leaving me empty handed in the music buying department. But not some much in the live music department.

Soon after I arrived in Barcelona, Rishi informed me that Guns N' Roses, a late 80s early 90s American hard rock band known for their million selling classic album Appetite For Destruction and #1 single "Sweet Child O' Mine", were due to play a live concert. This was indeed music to my ears. So indeed, that I'd forgotten all about buying a new iPod Shuffle or music shopping. I had been wanting to see these guys live ever since they came on the scene. You see, back in the days of awful late 80s Metal bands — G N' R simply stood out for me. They were reminiscent of the classic hard rock groups of the 70s, like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, KISS and Queen. For me, G N' R saved hard rock in the way that Punk might have saved rock in the late 70s and Grunge in 90s. And strangely enough, I'd already gotten prematurely excited about seeing G N' R back in August when rumors of the band coming to Sofia began to spread like wildfire — only to discover that the band was never originally set to play the Bulgarski.

Unfortunately on the day of the G N' R concert, Rishi and Livia were due in London, and Steve and Nevena were just not interested. So that left only Sarah and I game for G N' R. There was just one problem, though — being that I originally had no idea Axl and the boys were in town, I had no tickets. So I scramble fast to find some, with high hopes that the show wasn't already sold out. This is where another astonishing last minute discovery occurred.

After an hour or so of literally asking strangers on the streets of La Rambla where I could find G N' R tickets, no one seemed to have a clue — even folks wearing G N' R tees couldn't tell me! With just an hour left before show time, desperation began to build up inside of me. That's when I decided there was no other choice in the matter but to head for the stadium and hope for someone scalping tickets at a reasonable price. But luckily I didn't have to do that. On the way to the stadium, we happened upon two friendly strangers who told us that the show was not yet sold out and the whereabouts of where we could find some tickets — a rather unusual and familiar sounding store that I had not heard about in over 6 years called Fnac, an international French entertainment retail chain likened to the late Tower Records. And hearing that familiar name again brought a huge smile to my face. I started reminiscing of the good old heavenly days of shopping there for hours back in 2004, during my first trip abroad to Paris and Amsterdam.

So after getting some pretty precise directions from the friendly strangers, Sarah and I got to Fnac in no time. And after waiting in a line filled with a dozen or so G N' R fans hoping to scoop up last minutes tickets, too — I finally got mine! But keeping in mind that I'd only had an hour until show time, that meant that I hardly had no time at all to shop at Fnac. And there was just no way I was going to let that happen — so I was some how able to convince a very reluctant Sarah to allow me to take a 5 minute peek up stairs to see what Fnac Barcelona had to offer. And if you know me well, then you'll know that a 5 minute peek up stairs could easily turn into a half hour peek up stairs.

As Sarah, Nevena and Steve chilled in the Fnac coffee shop downstairs, I was upstairs enjoying the most heavenly half hour of shopping ever! But to be quite honest, any CD/DVD loving shop-a-holic like me, can tell you that a half hour in the last great CD/DVD store on earth would be equivalent to a fat man with a half hour in The Cheese Cake Factory. In other words, my time in Fnac was not very filling — but extremely appetizing. Nevertheless, there was one surprise turnout that came out my half hour peek — I stumbled upon a new companion.

On the way to the check out counter, after scooping up the complete series of The Persuaders!, featuring sir Roger Moore and the late great Tony Curtis, I spotted that iconic giant-sized Apple Store logo. I rushed right over and underneath the sign there it was staring right up at me — an iPod Shuffle! It was little and silver. There were lots of others around it, ranging in all types of colors, but this little silver one seemed to be calling out my name. I snagged it up quickly and whispered, "welcome home, Little Silver."

Unfortunately, there was no way I could get The Beatles inscribed on Little Silver, like I had done with Little Red, but that didn't matter to me because like I said before — nothing will ever replace Little Red. But as I held Little Silver in my hand, examining it over carefully at the check out counter — I got the strangest feeling that the new companion was going to work out okay.

The sound of Steve calling my name out and reminding me that Sarah was still downstairs waiting to leave for the concert woke me from my little bonding moment with Little Silver. So I rushed downstairs. Sarah was a little worried that we'd be late for the show, then suddenly remembered that most popular main acts typically have some boring opening act to make them look good.

Man, she was wrong this time.

You see, there was just one important piece of the G N' R dream concert puzzle that I forgot to mention to you. Their opening act for the concert was of Canadian Heavy Metal singer who goes by the name of Sebastian Bach. A person that not so long ago I had the pleasure of meeting and managed to become well acquainted with. It was a chance meeting that could possibly have some early origins in Sebastian sealing a recent reputation for being the one man alive that almost reunited Slash, former G N' R guitarist, and Axl Rose, front man and leader of Guns N' Roses. Oh, it gets better — stay with me and you'll find out how...

Me and Sebastian's meeting took place on December 8, 2007 at New York's B.B. King's Blues Club during a rare comeback concert of one of the world's most famous recluses, the legendary rock pioneer Sly Stone. More excited than a fly on cow dung, I arrived at the show a couple hours early. My early arrival helped secure a spot directly at the front of the stage, about 4 feet away from Sly's keyboard. Ten minutes passed, and in came a big 6 foot 4 corn-fed white boy with long blond hair dressed in black leather motor cycle gear who stood right next to me. He looked awfully familiar, but I couldn't place his face. As tough as he looked, he gave off a warm and friendly vibe. He even seemed to be more excited than I to finally see Sly live.

He introduced himself as 'Sebastian' and asked me, "what songs are you hoping Sly will perform tonight?" I told him, "it don't matter, just as long as the world's most unpredictable rock star shows up on time." He laughed and nodded in agreement. Then for the next couple of hours he and I exchanged stories of our first time hearing Sly's music and our all time top favorite Sly & The Family Stone albums and songs. He also mentioned how Sly was a huge influence on his first band. And of course, when he was telling me this — I was clueless as to what band he was talking about. But I would soon find out.

To cut a long story short, after an hour or two behind his scheduled performance time, Sly Stone eventually showed up and put on a rather short, but tremendously wonderful and unforgettable concert. And being that Sebastian and I were so close to the stage, we got serenaded a few times and even got a personal hand shake from the Riot maker himself.

But it wasn't until the very end of the concert that Sebastian won my heart. You see, due to Sly's erratic behavior and short concert performance, that included a few bathroom breaks in between songs, a rather ungrateful idiot from the crowd yelled out, "go home, crack head!" I'm sorry, but the man that virtual change the course of pop music for the last 40 years is allowed to take as many bathroom breaks as he pleases for all I care. I was just honored to be in the same room as this musical genius. And I could tell most everyone in the crowd was annoyed at this asshole's comments. But Sebastian took his annoyance to a whole other level. He was quite furious. So furious that he actually combed the crowd looking for this guy — threatening, out loud, to break his neck.

With traffic guard-like caution, me and a few other Sly fans from the crowd tried to calm him down, but there was no stopping Sebastian — he was on a mission to destroy. It was also during this time that I learned the true identity of my fellow Sly Stone disciple. You see, another fan observing the incident told me that he was known as Sebastian Bach, a famous musician amongst hard rock circles and one time lead singer of one of the hardest rocking bands of 90s known as Skid Row. At that very moment an epiphany came to me — I'd suddenly remembered him and his first band!

After I learned of his true identity, Sebastian had seemed to vanish. I found out later that he was in fact back stage meeting Sly and his band, where the two of them had became well acquainted and apparently remain close friends to this day. In fact, just a year after the concert, the former Skid Row rocker would try and almost succeed in reuniting Axl Rose and Slash to play with Sly Stone on record. A quite incredible feat indeed, considering that word has it that the two former G N' R band mates can't even stand to be in the same room together nowadays. But nevertheless, legend has it, according to Sebastian, that both Rose and Slash agreed to perform on a new record with Sly Stone — unaware of each other's presence of course. Unfortunately, the reunion never materialized due to Sly's rather unusual request for Sebastian — to buy him an $8,500 dollar puppy. It just doesn't get anymore bizarre than that.

Unfortunately, seeing Sebastian in the flesh again, would be short lived due to our late arrival to the concert — when Sarah and I got there, he was performing his encore. But the little we saw was still pretty awesome. As he left the stage, he assured us that his boy Axl was definitely in house and ready to give us the show of a lifetime. And he was right.

And you can say what you want about Axl Rose, but it won't change the fact that when it comes down to it, this boy is a true performer in every sense of the word. And although the classic G N' R line up which featured, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, were missing in action, his new band — that features original classic line-up keyboard man Dizzy Reed — put on one of the best live hard rock shows I've seen since that AC/DC concert I told you about in Episode 14.

And just like Sly Stone, through the years Axl Rose has also developed a reputation of being unpredictable and showing up late to concerts. And this show was no exception when he showed up about an hour late. Arriving in a Sly Stone-like fedora, shades and sparkly jacket, he opened the concert with the title track from the band's 2008, 15 year in the making album called Chinese Democracy . But not surprisingly it wasn't "Chinese Democracy" that set the pace for what was yet to come. It was an electrified live performance of the 1987 classic "Welcome To The Jungle" that got the Catalan crowd on their feet and rocking!

Axl and the boys kept up this awesome energetic pace by rocking through 10 more classic tracks, including the oh-so-sweet "Sweet Child Of Mine" and a remake of Paul Mccartney & Wings' "Live And Let Die." Well call me a sucker for a hard rock ballad if you want to, because for me the concert reached its highest peek when Axl Rose took the stage alone armed with only a grand piano and slowed the pace down to a romantic-like tempo. And like a hybrid of Freddie Mercury and Elton John at their best, Axl performed a wonderful instrumental medley of two classic Elton tunes — the delightful "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," that segued perfectly into my all time favorite G N' R song, the 1991 orchestral rock ballad "November Rain," from my all time favorite G N' R double album Use Your Illusion I and II.

I was a bit choked up at this point. I looked at Sarah and said, "they just don't make 'em like Axl anymore." She nodded in agreement. His voice was also amazingly strong. Sarah and I both agreed that he sounded better than he did during the band's heyday.

After the band rocked through a couple of more classic tunes, including a cover of Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie," and the classic "Nightrain" that featured a visual tribute to great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — G N' R ended on a rather fitting encore of "Paradise City," where Sebastian Bach joined in to sing along with the band.

To some it all up — the Big Barcelona Reunion was everything I'd hoped for and more. The only disappointments were losing Little Red and at certain times, the 6 of us, including Nevena — the only European guilty by association, felt a dislike from the Catalans toward Americans. A feeling that Rafa, a new friend I'd met at the G N' R show, would later dispute — thankfully. In his own words he told me quite bluntly, especially in light of how he and his lovely girlfriend Nina made Sarah and I feel right at home during the entire concert, "completely wrong," He later added that, "it's true that we don't like some aspects of the 'American way of life,' as well as we don't like some things of the European or Spanish cultures — but it doesn't mean that we are not fond of American people...that's a cliché. Moreover, you can find good and bad people anywhere, don't you?"

No truer words have ever been spoken, my Catalan brother.

The last disappointing part of the trip was saying goodbye to Rishi, Liv and Steve. In just 3 days, we all had gotten used to hanging out and enjoying each others company, again. We agreed that our trip and reunion was too short lived and vowed to meet up again in another country sometime soon. I hope they keep their word. But in the meantime — me, Sarah, Nevana and my former Heldref homies — and even you all out there, can enjoy the memories of our Big Barcelona Reunion through some wonderful photos that tell a far better story than I. Just click this link and enjoy yourself.

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

— Madonna, Patrick Leonard, & Bruce Gaitsch, 1987

As October rolled into November, the constant cold dark rainy days in Bulgaria came to end. And on the first sunny Sunday in November, I decided to take a walk outside to test out my new companion. The first thing I noticed was that Little Silver just wasn't Little Red. Nothing will ever be. I was bummed out a bit. But when I plugged my headphones in the first thing I noticed was that Little Silver was louder and beefier sounding than Little Red ever was. And it also had a cool fade-out feature and digital sound alerts. And being a notch smaller than Little Red, it was far easier to fit on my sleeve.

The new companion was working out okay after all.

As I turned the corner by the gate of our condo reminiscing of Barcelona and rocking out to the sounds of G N' R in my new iPod, I noticed my friendly next door neighbor coming down the side walk toward me. Right by her side, as usual, was that leash-less Irish wolfhound of hers. It didn't take long for him to spot me and start the chase, again. I ran as fast as I could and jumped on top of a nearby SUV typically parked on the sidewalk.

As I sat on top of the SUV listening to my new iPod, looking down at old drippy mouth barking up at me while my friendly next door neighbor giggled with apologies, I could only smile at the thought of knowing that I was going to make the rest of someone's day wonderful.

Be seeing you.

O