One Rarely Sees

I visited my girlfriend at her part-time job the other day. She works in somewhat of an art gallery. Soon after I got there, she was ready to go on her break. So I decided to accompany her. We started chatting about her less-than-stellar experiences with the last few guys she dealt with and how those dealings made her realize that she needed to rearrange items on her proverbial list. The importance of appearance and charm were being replaced by consistency, punctuality, and compassion.

I completely understood where she was coming from.

She then started telling me about a man whom she had worked with at her primary job for years that she never noticed (like that) until recently. This guy was kind and always willing to help her around the office—carrying boxes and cleaning up after her events. He was even willing to assist her at home—helping her move and fixing appliances. I need to pause here to say that this man took a day off from work to help her move. She always regarded him as sweet, and that was about it—until she mentally reorganized the list of things she sought out in a partner. Once she did this, she really started paying attention to his words, actions and attitude…and you pretty much know how the story goes from her. She liked what she observed.

After her break was over, we returned to the store. While she was in the breakroom putting away her belongings, I took a look around the gallery. There was one piece of art I was drawn to because it looked like an eye chart. As I looked at it a bit longer, though, I could see that there was a message in the letters. It wasn’t long before I decoded it to read, “One rarely sees what is right in front of them.” *

I instantly loved it and then chuckled to myself as I thought back to the conversation with my friend. After she returned from the breakroom, I pointed to the picture and told her that she needed to get it. We both smiled and said our goodbyes.

As I walked back to my car, I thought about the lesson in all of this: we can get so bogged down in a type, a job or a way of thought that we miss out on the love, opportunity or beauty right in front of us.

So, as we look over here, there and yonder for whatever, we need to also make sure we look right in front of us because that's exactly where we may find it.


*as a complete side note, I just wanted to point out that the grammar in the art is incorrect. It should acutally read "One rarely sees what is right in front of him (or her)." If you start out with singular, you have to end with singular...one is singualr; them is plural. Anal, I know...but someone is probably making a killing off bad grammar.