Stroking my Ego, Twice in 24 Hours

I can go weeks without feeling good about myself.

Wait, that sounds bad. What I mean is that generally speaking I feel good about life, but that it’s nice to, every once in awhile, hear somebody else say it.

Yesterday I heard it – well, read it – at the office in an email exchange:

From Colleague: You are great! Thanks a lot!

I respond: Can I get you to say that several times, the next time my ego needs stroking?

Colleague: Sure, just call me!

It amused me and I ended up posting it to FB, where it would reside as a distant memory and not well publicized had I not had an encounter this afternoon.

This fall I made the decision to hire a cleaning person – and today was the day that she came to clean my apartment for November. I left work early and, while she was working, went to a café to work on a freelance project.

The café is actually close to my house, but for inexplicable reasons, I’ve only been there twice in the 30 or so months that I’ve lived here. Further, I should go there because the waiter is adorable – not normally my type because he has a beard, but it works on him. I actually managed to get a ton of work accomplished on the project in between fervent glances at his posterior.

At some point, when I was the only customer in the café, I signaled that I wanted another drink, which he then brought to me – as he was about to step away, he asked me a question – in German – and I understood it.

Are you famous? I feel like I recognize you from television. Are you an actor?

I stammered some kind of reply and felt my face flush.

Thank goodness it was dark…