You're Welcome

When a dog arrives at the park, all the other dogs, lead most often by Scout, run over to greet them with tails wagging. Can you imagine if every time you entered a room a flock of smiling people came over to smell your butt? Ok, shake your hand? I think this is something Americans should adopt. Maybe less people would have self-esteem issues and be on anti-depressants if they knew others were truly happy to be in their presence. How we feel about ourselves is no doubt influenced by how others feel about us.

In certain areas of Europe this kind of a “dog park welcome” is normal. Italy, Greece, Spain – all seem to treat both friends and strangers like long-lost family. I spent time in Greece with some non-blood-related, and possibly not related at all, relatives (my uncle by marriage’s two sisters and their families). I have never, ever, even in my own home, felt as welcome and loved as I did in Greece. I have also never been as happy as I was in Greece. I had been backpacking Europe and my uncle insisted I stay with his family in Athens. I had met one sister and her children once when I was five years old. Though I have a pretty amazing long-term memory (my short-term is shit, I misplace everything), I had no idea what the person being sent to pick me up would look like. And had no clue how they would know what I looked like (I later learned that I am the most obvious American ever and that most of us are easy to pick out of a crowd).

But immediately after exiting the plane, a clan of fifteen people rushed at me with balloons, flowers and “Welcome Julie” signs, Julie spelled J-U-L-Y. Within seconds, I received so many two-cheek kisses my face looked like a paint palette of lipstick colors. People were crying. Crying! They didn’t even know me. I wasn’t even blood. I imagined if I was they would have dug Aristotle out of the ground and had him recite his Poetics.

I spent twelve days with this family. And every morning, every time I returned home, every time I emerged from the bathroom, I received a greeting similar to the one above. Each time it put a smile on my face. The Greeks and the dogs, they’ve figured something out.