In the city of Pittsburgh we have this unique opportunity to experience a street of positivity teeming with people and friendly faces and sunshine, a brilliant fish market and strong vibes of coffee, pastries and street performing. It's a street where one person knocks down another person which knocks down another person and pretty soon it appears as if the positivity has shifted down each block so that every corner you look someone is sharing happiness with another or a story or a smile. 

I was struck by this moment of serenity after my husband ordered not one but two chickens on a stick as this is his favorite little vendor to visit as we stroll down the strip, talking and laughing and watching newcomers and oldcomers pass by. We decided to sit on a stoop outside one of the side streets, and as I was sitting I saw a stick on the stoop that matched the exact stick I was eating off of. So you think. Wow. In this exact same place. In this same place. Someone was eating the same thing I was eating before me. And I will never meet them or know them but I do with them well. I hope they enjoyed their chicken on a stick as much as my husband did. 

On our way back to the car we decided to stop at a Chinese Store to pick up a few goodies. As we were at the check-out and my husband was busy at the cash register, I watched as the lady at the counter took all of our groceries and loaded them into a box. Not only that, but she asked for the other bag I was holding full of previous groceries, placed it inside the box, chuckled and said, "You shouldn't carry that. We make him carry that." As my husband lifted the box and inquired about where I had put the other bag, I pointed at the box and I could hear the lady from the register laughing and laughing as if she had just played the biggest prank ever. My husband laughed so hard he cried because that laughter, just like everything in the Strip was contagious. You don't have to know someone to knock over a domino, to create a ripple effect. 

In fact, I feel like when we are in positive ripple effects such as this, it is our duty to pass that ripple along. Because we can be citizens of positivity. We can leave our jokes and our chicken sticks behind so that the next person sitting on the stoop is perhaps wondering who was eating there and what they were talking about and their dreams and personal journeys and aspirations. A lane of whimsy.