While checking out my groceries at the food coop, I noticed a man in line behind me with a friendly smile. We exchanged a greeting and I turned to pay my bill. Counting out change, I heard the man say, “I’m progressing.”
This puzzled me so I asked, “Did you say you’re progressing?”
He laughed. “No, I said I was effervescent!”
“Even better!” I said and walked out of the store with a lighter step. “Effervescent,” I thought. When was the last time I heard that word, said that word? Years maybe. And what did it mean, exactly? Something bubbly, I thought, like soda pop. Someone bubbly, cheerful, enthusiastic.
Well, the world hasn’t seemed very effervescent lately. Instead, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the news and in our lives. Everything feels expensive and overwhelming.
And yet here was an ordinary man in line at the coop who feels happy—and has the courage to say so, right out loud. He reminded me that worry and fear weren’t the only choices. That joy and hope were also options, if I was brave enough to select something better.
Something bubbly, like champagne.
