Eeny, meeny, miney

After our budget meeting, I was sitting there looking around.

To our left, in the main part of the cafe, was an attractive couple in their early 20's. She had curly blond hair that reminded me of Meg Ryan in Top Gun. He was facing slightly away from me and I wasn't able to see much of his face. It appeared that he had a thick shadow or thin beard. They both wore long coats. It was after all about 5 degrees outside (in the negative if you factor in the wind chill). Brrrrr. Neither of them pulled away from their books long enough to talk to each other much less for me to approach them.

Behind the 20 somethings was an older woman. There was a heavy white coffee mug next to her. A napkin on top. She was thumbing through a magazine that didn't appear to grab her attention for very long. Her companion came to the table after a few minutes and they left shortly after that.

Closer to us, next to a black waist high fence that divided the large from the small area of the cafe, was what appeared to be a father and son. They both had pretty thick books. It was neat to see them share something in common.

At the small table next to us, were two women that arrived after we sat down. The first brought the heavy smell of cigarette smoke. It wasn't all consuming, but after smelling it, I was sure that I wouldn't approach her with the conversation of organ donation. While I can't be for sure if smokers can donate, I would assume that it all depends on their over all health of their organs. Lungs, I doubt it. But kidneys, pancreas, skin, corneas and intestines could probably be viable.

To our right, was another small table with a man and woman. They were reading what appeared to be fact books. I wasn't able to see the titles, but a few times as I was looking around, I notice the woman smirking, almost a giggle.

No one I saw was immediately marked as approachable. Everyone was reading or engaged in a conversation with another. I turned back to the couple on my right and they had closed up their books and appeared to be readying to leave. I grabbed two cards and decided to take the few steps to their table and talk to them about organ donation.

I walked up to the table and as I put down the cards, one of them fluttered to the ground. I knelt down to pick it up and decided to stay kneeling down. First to be more eye to eye. But also to not be so overbearing to them. It already felt like they were threatened by my presence. The man was eying the cards and suspicious. Little said and even less facial reaction. I tended to talk to the woman more, since she was more engaging and appeared to be less suspicious.

I mentioned my organ donation project and the reason why I am doing it. I knew they were on their way out, so instead of trying to engage in a long term conversation, I cut right to the chase and asked if they were donors. They both replied with a yes. I asked why they choose to be donors. She said it was because it's the right thing to do and alluded to the issue that once we are dead, there isn't much we can do with the organs. I also asked about a possible photo. Both declined in tandem.

Since I knew I wasn't getting a portrait of with of them I mentioned the milestone of 95,000 people on the organ list right now. Then both my kids came over and I decided to share with them about my kids both being donors. They appeared to be intrigued about that. I suppose not many adults actually meet with children that are organ donors. At least not one on one.

I thanked them for their time and asked that they check out the flickr site as well as come to the blog and to share the links to both sites with friends and family.

We parted ways and headed back out to the sub zero sunny day.