For folks who don't know Dan (my husband) is a tax guy. He actually has a masters degree in tax (why?!) But anyways, he loves working with numbers and he has explained to me on more than one occasion that money is fungible.



Fungi-what?? Yup, fungible: "being something (such as money or a commodity) of such a nature that one part or quantity may be replaced by another equal part or quantity in paying a debt or settling an account" - Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

It's a fun word I think and the concept came in sharp focus to me just yesterday when Dan and I went out to lunch after a lovely outing to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain.

As an FYI, the Arnold Arboretum is the oldest public arboretum in the country (or at least that's what a woman who we bumped into at the arboretum told us). Here is one of my favorite pics of our outing, I'll sprinkle a few more in for your viewing pleasure )

So, back to fungible. As we waited to be seated for lunch I could feel myself getting aggravated. I hadn't really wanted to go out to lunch, especially since we had some pretty decent leftovers in the frig back home, but I have been intentionally trying to expand my experiences and transition out of my hermitage over the past 18 or so months.

Putting our name on the list was pretty perfunctory as was the experience of being led to our table. I have never worked in the restaurant business and I imagine it must get pretty old fast, but I was a bit bummed about the tacitness of the host (again, why are we not eating at home??)

Once we got seated I felt a little less annoyed. 

On the table there was a machine that apparently allowed you to submit your order without a server - more opportunities to limit human contact.

I guess it's just a sign of the times and I just didn't have the patience to sort it out. 



Dan, on the other hand, saw the gadget and was all over submitting the order 'sans' a human being. Just as he submitted the order however Josephine appeared at our table.

It was so wicked nice to be greeted by a genuinely happy human being. We made small talk, I commented on her name, she shared that she was named after her Sicilian grandmother, we smiled and then she took our order and flitted away.

I instantly felt lighter, her presence had somehow shifted the energy around our table. Dan and I relaxed into conversation. Within just a few minutes two different servers showed up to our table, one with our drinks and the other with our appetizer. But before we realized we didn't have any plates, both the servers were gone. 

I looked around the restaurant and out of the corner of my eye there was Josephine who caught my eye and almost telepathically she made a small hand gesture, and poof, within seconds she arrived with two small plates for us to enjoy our appetizer.

Josephine checked on us intermittently throughout our meal and her authenticity and happiness was like a breath of fresh air. 

We decided we would definitely be giving her an awesome tip.

Dan paid the bill and the tip through the order machine on the table. 

With that out of the way, we immersed ourselves back into our conversation (I even pulled out a notebook because it was such a great conversation I didn't want to miss out on any of the wise and wonderful nuggets we were sharing ).

Deep into my note taking I didn't notice Josephine standing next to me. She asked if we meant to leave the tip that we did and we both quickly answered, yes. In that moment her facial expression changed and her eyes started to glisten.

She asked if she could hug me and then shared that she was a struggling grad student studying to become a social worker. She shared some of her experiences in the field with DCF (Massachusetts Department of Child and Family Services).

She said she really wanted to make a difference for children and families in crisis but she would have to get a few more degrees before she would be able to impact the system in the meaningful ways she envisioned. We chatted a bit more before she left our table.



The experience Josephine created for us was priceless and it felt as if we had also created a pretty special experience for her as well.

It was an all around FUNgible experience for everyone!

Thanks for taking the time to read me.



Take care and care well,

Mary 

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