Anna walked to work as she always did. She had lost her headphones, but in losing them, she realized what she had been missing.
She smiled at the homeless man she passed daily and handed him a granola bar. It was part of her morning routine. Every day, she told him that he was loved, and he always responded with a dramatic, dismissive wave of his hand.
A group of Anna’s coworkers passed her on the sidewalk, conversing about numbers and growth and projections. They didn’t even acknowledge her as they walked by. Of course, Anna noticed, but she shook it off.
As Anna neared the office building, she opened her Messages app on her phone. Eighty new notifications. She let out a small sigh and turned her phone to Do Not Disturb.
She plastered a smile on her face and entered the building with her head held high.
Anna greeted the front desk security guard by name and made her way onto the crowded elevator. She nodded at everyone she made eye contact with.
When Anna reached her floor and walked through the office, she greeted everyone she passed with a “good morning.” The responses she got were half-hearted, robotic “good mornings.”
She arrived at her own office. She always kept her door open, but her office was tucked into the corner of the floor, so she still had plenty of privacy.
As soon as Anna stepped inside, the smile dropped from her face, and her shoulders hunched.
She set down her coat and began unpacking her bag. That’s when she noticed the painting sitting next to her computer. It had been gifted to her months ago, and she had kept it in the same spot ever since. It was always a source of comfort. Strangely, it tied the time she spent at work to her community outside of it, creating continuity between the two worlds.
But today the painting stood out to her in a different way. In fact, it evoked something tender.
The painting was simple in concept. A sun peeked out from behind dark clouds, creating a vibrant contrast. The rays of light stretched down toward the bottom left corner, where a small figure sat — almost too faint to notice unless you looked closely.
The figure was a girl sitting with her knees drawn to her chest, her head buried in her hands.
The light shone directly on her.
Maybe she didn’t know yet that the light shone on her. Or maybe she did, and she simply let the light comfort her without changing her position.
The reason the painting caught Anna’s eye that day was that the evening before, she had seen the friend who had gifted it to her. She realized that she had touched that girl’s life. Maybe in some way, Anna had been this girl’s light.
Maybe that was why this girl had given Anna the painting.
The painting felt almost prophetic now.
The smile that Anna forced onto her face just moments ago slowly began to creep back, and it finally reached her eyes. Her shoulders loosened. Her breathing steadied.
Anna nodded to herself and sat down at her desk. She cracked her knuckles and opened her computer. She realized that she no longer wanted to use her headphones to tune out the world. As Anna vowed to permanently leave her headphones behind, she said quietly to herself, “It’s a good morning indeed.”
Featured Photo by The Standing Desk on Unsplash.
