I had an interesting experience today leaving the grocery store. I was frazzled. It was rainy, and I had two kids, six and under with me who were rambunctious… to say the least. I stepped outside, and the woman beside me gasped. I turned toward her and her son, and she says.

“I love you.”

Eyebrows up. “I’m sorry?”

“Your shirt.” She points to the Dean Winchester “No Chick Flick Moments” shirt I’m wearing. Ahhh A light bulb goes off in my head. Just like that, my crappy grocery hell has become a slice of heaven. They ask me if I purchased pie, and we run through our favorite parts about the show, and not so favorite. It doesn’t matter that we’ve never met before. It’s like running into an old friend.

It didn’t matter that she was white, and I was black, or she was short, and I was tall. None of the ridiculous things that all too often play a part in judgment in the “real” world existed for those few minutes.Why? Because we were just two humans who loved the same show, and that gave us common ground, respect, and kindliness for each other.

It’s amazing really when you think about the trivial things that keep people apart these days. So I challenge you, treat others the way you do that person in the store who’s wearing a shirt, jacket, hat, from one of your favorite shows.

Give a smile, extend kindness, and realize, as different as you may be. It’s not a bad thing, and you have more in common than you could ever imagine because you’re too humans on this whacky thing called earth, chasing happiness.