Going to the mall is very low on my list of preferred activities. But the month of December requires one or two mall visits. I went today with hopes of finding gifts for some of the nieces and nephews. Our 12-year-old god daughter revealed she'd like us to get her a bikini, also indicating at which store we were to buy it. Bikini bought, I headed to the toy department and checked off several more names on my list. Almost skipping in contentment, I left the store with two large bags of gift-wrapped presents.

    I headed down the escalator to the bottom parking level, thankfully painted purple as a memory aide. Hard as it may be to believe, the malls here CHARGE for parking. I stood before the machine, inserted my ticket and the price popped up in a window. One thousand two hundred and fifty pesos or about three dollars. I scrounged in my wallet, pulling out the thousand peso bill, but found I only had small 10 peso coins that the machine wouldn't accept. Turning to the man behind me, I asked if he could change my small coins for a larger 100 peso coin. He stepped up and inserted the necessary money and refused to take my handful of coins in exchange. I thanked him profusely, while wondering if it was my grey hair again that gave me "preferential" treatment. My contentment was complete when I arrived home without encountering any traffic jams. 

    Small wonders on an ordinary day.