May Day!

First, a little retrospection:

01:31 am May 2nd, 2004

I can't sleep. It is around 1:30 am and it is really warm. I had 3 sort of job leads on Friday. One is for Lowe's, one is demonstrating caulking at Home Depot, one is for Thomas Kemper. We'll see how they pan out. TK would be the best one.

Today, being May Day as it is May 1st... Lauren, Mel and I went to Trader Joe's and bought flowers which we then proceeded to hand out to people we passed. No one turns down a flower. It made everyone smile. We got a few odd looks and one woman said it was her friend's birthday and she needed two, a red one as well as a pink one.

I love my roommates. It is fun to have these sorts of days.

This weather is unbelievable. If I had to choose a time to be unemployed, this would be it!

Then click here and read this. Such a small world!

And now...

Mel and I had plans to hang out last night. We'd thought about walking around Greenlake or gardening at my p-patch plot. And then it hit her. She was hanging out with me on May 1st! Sure, it's been three years since the last time we did it, but it's the essence of the tradition that gives the warm fuzzies.

We went to Safeway, bought a bunch of carnations and daisies and cut them down to easy lengths. Then we proceeded to hand them out to anyone and everyone we passed.

I suppose the "random act of kindness" aspect is diminished when I feel the need to blog about it the next day. But I also think it's a great example of a creating a random social phenomenon. Some people wear costumes. Some people start pillow fights. We give away flowers.

Several men were slightly embarassed to receive them. One older man in a scooter/wheelchair refused it, "I don't have any place to put it, and I need both hands to drive." He ignored me when I pointed to the basket hanging from the front of his scooter.

A few of the younger men reacted as though we were coming on to them. One even asked if we wanted to make out with them. (Our answer was a definite no.)

Young girls took it as though they were expecting it. We ran into two groups of maybe 5-6 girls in the junior high or early highschool age group. Their initial reaction was, "What's the catch?" Then before we knew it they were requesting colors.

Older women seemed the most appreciative. Genuine, sincere appreciation of a kind gesture. One did ask us if we knew the history of it, then spouted off the wrong definition - and told us we should look it up. Turns out Mel had.

Nothing too phenomenal. And I'm also not anticipating that I'll read about anyone else receiving flowers like I did with Lauren 3 years ago.