Sense of Community

I seldom see my neighbors on my floor. This morning, I saw one. He has his laundry bag in hand. He said, he will bring it to the nice dry cleaning lady who has the shop next to his office. The next day, he can pick it up.
The service is pretty standard. Location is one factor, the nice lady is another factor. He likes to see the same person at the usual spot. It reminds me of those laundrymats in small towns. The owner works there and knows everyone around. Just as the barber, the doctor, the dentist... I wrote about my eye doctor last time I saw him. After so many years, he still looks the same and works at the same place. Even gives me the same responses to my same comments. It is comfortable to find the same person at the same spot. Knowing he is always there for you; feeling you are part of the community, part of that little world. Because he can only be found in that specific spot of that special part of the world.
It is a very special feeling I have missed in China. Too big a city and too many changes of shops and staff. We do not care who is serving us next time, or to say, we lose the interest to expect, because we will be disappointed most of the time. I am always surprised if I can find the same person in the same store when I visit back. In most of the cases, there is not too much human linkage, instead, just the price or location. For me, there is so much fun to see some store owners with strong characters are working in the store with so much pride and so much care.
The world getting bigger and people getting further apart!
======================================================
I just found an article I wrote on Oct 2nd, 2010. It is about my eye doctor:
My Day
I brought my parents to have Sushi tonight. First time in their life to have so much raw fish!!! They enjoyed most part of them. Suddenly, I realized that I am so much adventurous than them...
I went to see Kate Guo, my new MT. She gave me a very good massage. Good to learn things different from my current MT. The location is very convenient! I recommend her to our assistant right the way because she
is suffering from pains these days. She was so thankful to me. She said I am her doctor (because I prescribed ginger tea to replace painkiller for her), her physiologist (I told her my observation about her wrong position at desk)...I showed her I care about her and she likes me a lot.
In the afternoon, I went to see my eye doctor to have my exam done. He looked the same even I have not seen him for 4 years! He told me my eyes are very healthy and my prescription is the same. I said I am old enough to keep the eye sight. May go to the other way when I get older. With my blurry eyes, I told him why bother to show all those licenses on the wall while all the patients cannot see them anyway in the exam room. He laughed and said they are for the old people to trust his young look. He is a nice guy and guided me to the contact lenses fitter in case I could not see well. I told him the weather was nice, he regretted that he was hiding in door. Suddenly, I felt sorry for him. How many people in the world really enjoy their work? He charged me $100 for a 10 minute service but he missed the fresh air out there!
Another reflection--- Time flies. I can imagine the first time I saw him was 6 years ago. And so many things happened after that. Feels like long enough to be forgotten. And Suddenly, I found the other values of those doctors and dentists. They are always there to count the time for you; they gave you a sense of belong to a place--because they are always there in the same place. I even do not have a doctor in China but I have them here in Calgary!!! You will find new ones until you move to a new place.
The later part of the Contact Lenses Fitter was fun too. He is a nice old man. After couple routines, he asked me suddenly, "are you a psychic?" I said "no... But real psychic do not admit they are..." He paused there for a while and then laughed. He said i could read his mind. At the end, on our way out to the counter to pay, I said "I just read your mind and know you do like me." He had to admit that was true!! Who will not, right???? Just for fun! I always feel good to make somebody laugh.
I woke up at 4am, got up at 430, went to work at 6am and arrived at the office at 630. Now it is late. I have to go to bed!