People have always intrigued me. I am one of those that could be content going to the mall and people watching.  Since I opened my retail business, I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know some pretty amazing people.  My business allows me to have conversations with my customers, get to know them, and in some cases the opportunity to meet some of their friends and families.  Everyone has a story.  Some people enjoy telling their stories and others are content to browse peacefully in my shop and “escape” from their day for a few minutes without interruption or pressure.  The trick, for me, is learning the difference.  For the ones that enjoy telling their stories, I think the most interesting have come from the older people. You know the ones I’m talking about.  They walk a little slower, but still with a spring in their step, their eyes still twinkle with life and their smiles reach all the way to their eyes and beyond.  I have one customer, we’ll call her Mrs. Mabel, that comes in with her daughter on occasion.  I first came to know Mrs. Mabel when we began talking about the history of some of the antique display pieces I have in my shop, in particular an old steamer trunk.  Mrs. Mabel began telling me about a cruise she and her husband took when they first married.  The entire time she was telling me the story I had visions of the movie “Titanic” in my head.  Her daughter, who I’m sure has heard these stories so many times, sometimes tries to hurry Mrs. Mabel through her story and out the door. But, luckily for me, Mrs. Mabel does not deter easily, and every time she comes in she has a story to share with me of days gone by, when times were much simpler in some ways and much more difficult in others.  Naturally, on one visit we had the “young people these days” story, when Mrs. Mabel proceeded to tell us she has a cell phone and loves Pinterest but has no use for texting.  Her comment regarding texting was “old people don’t text, because our stories are too long.” Thank goodness for the story tellers and for Mrs. Mabel.