We all need validation. When it comes, it is often unexpected.
I was on line at SoCo, the ice cream shop on Railroad Street in Great Barrington - the best ice cream in the Berkshires- and had just ordered my favorite- Madagascar Vanilla ice cream and Pacific Northwest Raspberry Sorbet.
Behind me I heard, “May I have vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet?”
I wondered whether he had spied my cup of ice cream and sorbet.
He turned towards me and apparently, for the first time, realized that we had ordered the same combination. A smile and a mutual acknowledgement that it was the best combination.
Validation. Sometimes when you least expect it.