“There are no strangers here;
Only friends you haven't met”
― William B. Yates
Well, I recently was on a 1 day business trip in Pittsburgh. Travelling across the country on a 5 hour flight, for a 5-6 hours meeting is not my favorite, but that's not the topic of this post.
My return flight was at 6 am next day, so I had the evening to myself in this new place. I have been to Pittsburgh once before, but was again a short trip. We were in office the whole time even then, so didn't really have the chance to go out and explore the city.
I decided to take a stroll in the downtown. I am very impressed by the bridges all around the city and architecture of public buildings, theaters etc. I find old archaic buildings mesmerizing, and thrilling, look as something straight out of a story book, the book of history :-)
And, I just stood in front of some of the fountains, buildings etc. and gazed at them for a little while.
My last stop for the night was a fancy Thai restaurant, rated as Pittsburgh's no. 1. I love Thai cuisine and thought would be prefect ending to this short trip. I got in, it had a huge seating area if I compare it to any average bay area restaurant, fancy decor(little over the top for my taste, but it looked nice) etc. They got me a nice table in the middle of the restaurant. The restaurant was quite packed and full of clamor. But it was nice to hear big groups of people talking to each other and laughing, not being hooked on their cell-phones, a pretty regular occurrence in most bay area restaurants.
I was greeted by a friendly and polite waiter, who took my order. While I was waiting for the server to bring my drink, I just looked around to soak in shiny art pieces, dazzling chandelier, it was sort of overwhelming for my eyes. As I looked up across my table, a sweet friendly lady walked up to me, greeted me, said that her friends noticed that I was probably eating alone and asked if I would like to join their group for dinner. It was group of 10+ people. I gladly accepted. Such a friendly sweet gesture!!
The group had already placed order for entrée. I placed my entrée order after they were all already served food. These people are so lovely, they chatted with me the entire time and decided to wait for me until I finished eating. I learnt a thing or two about street medicine.
Image courtesy - Pixabay
We all decided to go for a walk by the river after the dinner, probably spent another hour or two walking down the streets and parks of Pittsburgh. It was nice and relaxing. I really enjoyed their company, happy, hip friendly bunch with a great sense of humor. They asked me how would I describe them after I go back to California. Well, I used the exact same words back then. They were quite amused by the fact that I called them hip.
That was October. I have had those memories come up quite a few times in last one month, more specifically about the lady who walked up to me(as I never use names on my blog). I decided to send her a text on Thanksgiving for being so kind and lovely. She was very happy to hear from me and mentioned that she thinks of me often. That she will love to host me if I visit the city she is from.
Their welcoming and friendly gesture is exactly the kind of random act of kindness, that would make anyone's day. I am just thankful and grateful for running into nicest strangers(and now new friends) ever :-)
