Wisdom From The Singing Grocer

Yesterday my daughter Claire and I had a morning that was completely unplanned.  I was scheduled to start teaching my first Signing with Babies class for the winter session at a community centre here in Vancouver which is just off a street called Commercial Drive, or so I thought.  The plan was, we would drive there together and while I was teaching my class, she would stroll the street and pick up some produce we needed.  Commercial Drive is great for window shopping and people watching.  When I was finished the class, we planned to go for lunch. 

I arrived at the centre only to find out I was a week early!  I actually wasn’t scheduled to start until next week.  I obviously entered the wrong starting date in my calendar.  It was a lovely day yesterday so we just decided to stay in the area anyway and look in the shops and buy the produce we needed.  Claire suggested one of the bigger produce markets on the corner where she said the prices were really good.  We picked up various things from the bins outside then went inside and heard someone singing.  It was a man’s voice singing “Blowing In The Wind” - the beautiful folk song from the sixties written by Bob Dylan that Peter, Paul and Mary sang.  When you walk into a grocery store, or any store for that matter, you don’t expect to hear someone singing loud enough for everyone to hear.  The singer was who I think was the  Chinese owner, was standing over the melons with his green apron on, singing to his heart’s content. 

A little bit later while we were in the aisle, we saw the singing grocer so I felt I had to comment on his singing and say how lovely it was to hear.  He’s been working in the store for thirty years he said and when he was young some people told him it was “time to grow up” when they first heard him singing.  Thankfully he ignored them. When then got into a bit of a conversation around the music of the sixties.  He said he loved Peter, Paul and Mary and whenever he gets into a bad mood, he fills the house with their music.  “What’s your favourite Beatle song?” I asked him.  He thought for a moment and then said “Hey Jude”.  He also said he loved “The Long and Winding Road” and told us that when he and his wife get into an argument he tells her life is just like the song; ”a long and winding road”. 

For the rest of the day I thought about our encounter with the singing grocer.  He reminded me of the power of music and how it can instantly elevate your mood and put you in a better place.  It’s such a simple thing to do yet so effective.   Today I decided I’d probably had heard enough gloom on the radio and TV for the day and remembered the wisdom from Norman the grocer.  I put on an uplifting CD and instantly felt great.