Aggressive Friendliness

I just got a spring cold and I am officially on the exciting and nauseating ride that is the cold medicine roller coaster. This afternoon, after my very satisfying Cinco de Mayo dollar tacos at El Azteca, I returned to the office feeling very bad. Chills, fever and overall aches; I was not happy. Then I took my cough medicine and waited for the relief to wash over me. I didn’t even realize that I was feeling better until I found myself walking down the hallway being aggressively friendly to relative strangers.

“Hey, how you doing?” I practically shouted in this guys face. He looked taken aback, but through his quick thinking was able to retort,

“Good, how about you?”

“Great!” I shouted back at him. “Thanks for asking!”

Just an hour ago I would have scowled, or at best ignored the guy. With my medicine I was practically ready to be best friends. Got to love the stuff.

This past summer my brothers and sister and family all got together for a week at the NJ beach. My sister in law Heidi, who I adore, is a born and raised Kentucky farm girl and she is aggressively friendly. As we walked around the little beach town she greeted every person we passed as if he was an old friend, which New Jersey folk don't really like and find suspicious. It was amazing to watch people step back, or stare at her or worst, just ignore her. It actually became a joke and we called her our "special" cousin from Kentucky.

I think it is kind of sad that being so friendly is seen as weird or uncouth. I enjoy the thought of a world full of Heidis, all smiling and asking "how ya doing?"