It was the middle of a hot, sticky day at the greenhouse where I work. I was just in the middle of doing my daily sweep of flower petals from underneath the tables in the greenhouse when I heard a car pull up. Today was a particularly slow day, so I was ecstatic to hear a customer come in. Yes, I am an employee who helps people find hanging baskets or the perfect tomato plant, but I also love talking to everyone who stops by. I like to think of myself as someone who can ask customers how they are doing, provide some conversation, and hopefully make even a tiny impact on someone’s day. Little did I know, these customers would make an impact on me.

I walked up to the car, waving. I looked into the window to see a man and an older woman, both with a smile on their faces. “Excuse me,” he said, “ I am in a wheelchair and my mom has a walker. Can we please pull up to the back of the greenhouse and have flowers brought to us?”. Of course I agreed. They pulled up and got out. Immediately, the man started asking about all the flowers we had to offer, asking question after question with curiosity and eagerness teeming in his voice. I have never met someone who was so ecstatic about geraniums and petunias before in my life. When I brought the flowers to his mother, her eyes immediately lit up with excitement. She didn’t say much, but she didn’t need to. Her face said it all. “Can you believe she just turned 94?” the man asked. I couldn’t believe it in the slightest. Sure, she was older, but the childlike excitement she showed just by looking for some flowers made her seem young in my eyes. We spent about forty-five minutes looking for the flowers for the pot on her porch, and it was truly amazing how much thought she put into what she was searching for. “I’m going to need all the tags from the flowers with the information on it”, said the man. “My daughter is going to want to hear all about these!” Everyone seems to be in such a rush to get what they need and leave. It was refreshing to see them take their time. It was truly inspiring to witness the joy they took in slowing down and enjoying the process, and share their newfound knowledge of flowers with their loved ones.

Witnessing their joyous approach to something as simple as buying some flowers made me reflect on a quote I had heard earlier that week. “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play them.” From the time we are born, we all are dealt a set of cards. No two hands are dealt the same way. What we look like, where we are from, how much money we have, a disability or even a tough situation are out of our hands. This man didn’t choose to be in a wheelchair. His mother didn’t choose to have to use a walker. Although their hands were worse than so many of us who have the privilege of being able-bodied, they didn’t let this stop them from living. And by living, I don’t mean just getting through the day passively as so many of us do, but I mean really LIVING. Enjoying life because we have the privilege to live it- even if our situations are not ideal. We don’t get to choose our cards, but we do choose how we play them. Although our circumstances can cause pain which should not be ignored, this pain shouldn’t stop us from enjoying all that life has to offer. So next time you are out to do something small-no matter what it is-it can be driving, walking, shopping, whatever, I encourage you to take some time to take out those cards you were dealt and play them. I promise you no matter what you end up with, you will win the game.