Day 5, Atlanta

Mr. Sparkle, as we now refer to him, stands at the top of the stairs on the main walk into Americas Mart. Every morning he awaits you, always with a smile ~ a kind word ~ a question about your day. The first day we walked up the stairs out of the Marta subway, and rounded the corner, I saw him and mentioned to Melissa, "Oh look, there is that same nice man that was here two years ago when we were here". He stands there like the traffic cop he is, directing the masses to their correct location. Arms pointing, he guides them to the closest restroom, the location of the coat check, he looks at their maps, answers questions about local restaurants, and does all of it with a huge smile. He is there when we arrive at 7:30 in the morning~ and he is there when we head back to the hotel at 7:30 at night.

The first day that we were at the show a company that we purchase amazing Christmas ornaments from, Seasons of Cannon Falls, was giving out these nice little pins that say either "SPARKLE" or "DELIGHT". It was a really cute way for them to advertise their company because we saw no less than 100 people wearing them the first day. Their promotion also included the chance to win a mixture of prizes if seen by one of their employees, including a very large, and very expensive diamond. When we left the show on Tuesday night I had my "Sparkle" in my hand as I tried to get my Marta pass out of my backpack. I handed it to the gentleman at the door, and told him, "Here's one for you, thank you for being so happy everyday", or something to that effect.

The next morning as we rounded the corner coming up the stairs, I hear from fifty yards away, "Good Morning, how you doing today sir....... which way you going......... yes sir...that is the right way....you have a great day ma'am......How you all doing today?............Isn't it a great day, yes sir, two more halls down - take a left........Yes ma'am that's a nice smile you got today............Yes ma'am, it's a sparkly day today........You all have a great day today.......Yes Sir..just keep going this direction...................and on and on and on. Never stopping, never tiring, never ever without that big grin that starts your day with a warm heart and sooths you aching feet on the way home.

The best comment I heard him say though - as we were rounding the corner, was "Yes Sir....... that's me...Mr. Sparkle!"