Easy smiles

I’ve heard it before, and there’s just nothing like it until you’ve experienced it.  But Australian’s do tend to be quick to smile when you meet them.

That’s not an exclusive club, I’ve met many different people of varied races who are quick to smile, but since the majority of my experience is Australian based, I’ll limit my comment.

I’ve just finished another morning of hard work at the gym, and just as I was leaving, and while I was searching for my locker (I’d forgotten which one was mine.. Again!), a guy (incidentally hot, and naked behind me), commented that he leaves his mobile phone in his locker, so when he loses it he can use the courtesy phone to ring it, and then follow the noise.  He told me this with a VERY recognisable accent, one that I enquired about, only to discover he’s a Melbourne boy, in fact from Ballarat, 30 minutes drive further West from where I was living before moving to Washington State.

We had a quick chat, for as long as you can comfortably when one party is naked and on their way to the shower *laugh*, and discovered we had quite a few locations in common.  Then doing the whole “it was great to meet you mate, see ya’ round”, he headed to the shower, and I headed out to grab a protein shake.
Where the poor girl in front of me was going through a hellish time trying to spell her surname to the girl behind the counter.  What made it worse, was that she also worked for the gym so it shouldn’t have been quite as difficult as it was…

G-R-A-N-T

G-R-E? I? U?

No, G-R-A-N-T…

Having been through similar conversations spelling my own surname (required for putting items on your account), I asked her where she was from, again, another Melbournian.  Really cool!

So in the space of 5 minutes, after already having a great day in the gym, and chatting to one of my new friends there, I bumped into two people from “home”.  Both instantly smiled, with the smile being a genuine one going all the way to their eyes.  It may sound cheesy, but it was truly heartwarming.  Finally, if only for a short moment, I didn’t have an accent, and neither did they.  Everyone else did.

There really is nothing that beats a great big wide Australian smile backed up by that person being from your own town.  I didn’t think I was homesick, turns out I am, even if only a little.

It was just a brief encounter, but I’m sure I’ll bump into them both again, and for such a fleeting meeting (awww poetry!), I’ve been smiling ever since myself.

Have an awesome day!  I plan to!