An invaluable life lesson

Dear readers,
I would like to share a story with you about something that happened to me a year ago. It taught me to look at things in a different way.
We don’t always like what life is throwing at us, but sometimes, what we don’t like is as essential as life’s pleasures. On a very hot Summer day, after a long walk, I was sitting on a bank between place Pigalle and Boulevard de Rochechouart in Paris. All I wanted was to get a little rest and maybe a little cup of coffee afterwards. There was an elderly lady sitting beneath me, who was enjoying her place in the shadow as well as me.
Very close to us, a little misbehaving boy, around 4 or 5, whose mom didn’t seem to have any control of, attracted my attention. He was shouting loudly and running all over the place. But I was tired and suddenly, my mind was shifting away. I felt like I was going to fall asleep when, all of a sudden, a stone hit me.
” Ouch”, I said, trying to find the culprit. I looked a round and it seemed that the little boy was trying to hide from me a few meters aside. I was really angry at this moment.
” Did you see what that boy just did to me?”, I asked the elderly lady sitting beneath me.
-“no”, she replied, “Sorry, I didn’t pay attention. What happened?”
I explained her that this little unbehaved boy hit me with a stone…after a while we started a little conversation. She explained me that she was born in Montmartre. This Parisian area that she knew as a child seemed to be very different to our contemporary knowledge of the place. She described it to me as a “little village” into town, where everybody knew everybody. While listening to her, I also learnt a lot more about the French capital in general.
The time we shared was pleasant and I realy enjoyed it. I was now ready to leave. I thanked the nice lady for the conversation. When I was about to say goodbye, she told me :” Always keep in mind we met thanks to this rude little boy”.
” I will”, I said. I realized that every little detail in life has its importance. Don’t prompt to picture something as negative: there might be a hidden blessing in it.
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
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