February 23, 2024

But first, shout out to Lee. She sold one of her last pieces of art from an art partnership a few years back. It was a big piece, and if you've ever visited our shop you've probably seen it.

It'll hang at a pretty rad house out in the Joshua Tree area, so it's nice to know it's going to a good home.

Now to the weird thing: The older I get, the more I like to work hard. For a long time I just put more of a priority on adventuring at the expense of work.

For whatever reason, I'm now really digging working hard, and the harder I work the more joyful it becomes. Same with you?

On Friday I was working late at the shop when a young lady came in, and in heavily accented English, asked if she could charge her phone. She was an Amazon driver with 25 packages to deliver, and couldn't do it without the phone.

I said "Of course" and showed her around to the back where she could plug in her phone. She seemed uneasy at being alone in a stranger's office at night, so I pulled the "Where ya from?" small talk starter. Afghanistan.

I pulled out my phone and she got even more worried. I told her, "Hang on, I want you to talk with a friend."

If you've been following Paleo Treats for a while, you probably remember back in 2012 or so we hired an Afghan refugee named Zarifa. Zarifa was with us for two years until she got a job helping other refugees make the transition to the US. Zarifa speaks about 6 languages, including (I think) Urdu. We've shared meals with her, met her whole family, and are always psyched to hear from her when she occasionally checks in.

I called Zarifa.

"Hey Z, long time no talk. I've got an Afghan lady here who's charging her phone at Paleo Treats and she's a little nervous, would you talk to her?"

Meanwhile, my visitor is staring at me like I'm growing a third eye. I hand her my phone and say, "What language do you speak? Because I've got someone on the phone who speaks the same language."

Moment of silence while both ladies try to figure out what the hell this crazy guy is doing. Then...

"Pali?" "Pali ba, [long string of something]" followed by 2 girls laughing and giggling away on my phone for about 10 minutes.

The lady finishes talking, hangs up the phone grinning from ear to ear, then we had a nice convo (in English) about being an Amazon driver in the US and how it was a much better job than McDonald's.

It may not sound quite as rad as the experience was, but it was a cool reminder that if you just know the right person it can make all the difference in a stranger's world.

Here's hoping that this week you get the chance to ease someone's fears and give 'em a hand as they hustle through life.

Rock on!