The Little Elevator Girl

The Little Elevator Girl. Doesn’t that sound like a great book title? Maybe someday. But for now, The Little Elevator Girl is one of the greatest highlights of my work week. Are any of you out there People Watchers? As of late, I have become a People Listener of sorts. Before you jump to the conclusion that I am a nosy eaves dropper, let me explain. My office can get pretty dang quiet and my desk is right next our front door which opens into a large inter -office foyer—great echoes, let me tell you! As a result, I can hear pretty much ANYTHING that goes on out there. After a year of listening to “foyer talk” I trained myself to listen for a few of my favorites. (The Whistler is one of my favorites too but I’ll have to tell you about him another time.)

Each week this little girl and her mother come to our building. I assume that they are visiting a spouse or family member on the 2nd floor (see I have to make up stories and assumptions to go along with my characters). This little girl is probably about 3 years old and has so much enthusiasm for life—I just love it! You can hear her chattering as soon as she enters the building. She then quickly jumps to the main topic of their weekly discussion: THE ELEVATOR.

She argues that she is big enough and always wants to ride it by herself. It’s so fun to hear how focused she is and she repeats herself over and over until she gets her point across.
“No, you take the stairs Mom!” (You really need to picture her saying this in her little 3 year old voice. It’s so darn cute!)

Her mother, always patiently responds that she will take the stairs but only after she makes sure her little girl pushes the right button. So trusting! As they walk closer and closer to the waiting elevator the little girl repeats urgently, “No, you take the stairs Mom!”

It seems that every step her Mother takes closer to the elevator is only assuring this little girl that her Mother will not, after all, allow her to ride it alone.

“I will take the stairs, but I need to watch you push the button first. Which button do you push?”
“One!” she responds enthusiastically.

“No, you need to push Two” Mom calmly replies.

“Two!” she shouts out excitedly.

And then comes my favorite part. I hear the elevator door close and moments later I hear the doors open on the 2nd floor and she shouts out, “I beat you!” (Which is so adorable after I have listened to her mother walk slowly up the stairs and even pause once or twice in order to give the elevator time to reach the top.)

And then I wait until the following week so I can hear this sweet little exchange once again.

I’m so thankful for the little things in life that make us smile!