Last month as I was leaving work, on my way to a department Christmas party I stopped in the ladies room to touch up my make-up. I was worn down by the day and doing my best to make myself look presentable and refreshed. As I looked in the mirror and applied fresh lipstick and powder a very kind woman who I had never met looked at me and said "honey you look beautiful." I instantly felt tears come to my eyes because those words and her tone reminded me so much of mom. I of course have heard those exact words from mom thousands of times in my lifetime, but also just the act of random kind words from one stranger to another was just the kind of thing she would have done. I used to think she was so silly the way she would make conversation with anyone, at the bank, the grocery store wherever. I guess I never realized how many strangers' days she may have cheered up with her never ending optimism and friendliness. As I left the ladies room that evening and walked down the hall, I wanted so badly to turn around and give this kind woman a hug. I did not turn around, because she probably would have thought I was crazy, but I think about her now and again, and remember how thanks to this kind woman I had the wonderful gift, even if only for an instant, of feeling my mom's presence that evening.