The Bubble Lady
On February 1, downtown Seattle saw its first snowfall of the season. Accumulation was negligible, as it usually is in the downtown area, but watching it fall is nevertheless an exciting treat. As we gathered by the window of our 17th floor apartment, we noticed many people in the surrounding buildings doing the same. Many were in various states of undress, but no one cared. Everyone was smiling. Perhaps most excited of all were our cats, Prim and Hastings, who alternated between leaping against the window to try and catch the snowflakes and simply staring at them, fascinated.
We then noticed another rare form of precipitation: bubbles of varying sizes had suddenly appeared as if by magic. The shimmering orbs mingled with the swirling snowflakes, their pink and green hues incongruous with the wintry scene before us. Puzzled, we looked around, finally discovering the source. The bubbles were coming from the apartment adjacent to ours, their creator a dark-haired woman who was, presumably, the new tenant. She was blowing bubbles out of her open window into the snow, for no other apparent reason than she simply enjoyed it.
The cats, meanwhile, ran back and forth on the windowsill, batting their paws against the glass to “catch” the bubbles as they floated by. They were clearly having the time of their lives.
I assumed the bubbles were a one-off, but the next day, they returned, and the cats once again went crazy.
Later that week, I was heading home from work, and I passed a woman as I was coming out of the elevator. I performed the customary Seattle greeting (acknowledging her while not really acknowledging her and making as little eye contact as possible), and as I was walking to my door, she spoke.
“I’m friends with your cats!”
After I took a second to process that a stranger was speaking to me, I turned. “Are you the bubble lady?”
She smiled. “I am!”
I told her my cats love her, and to please keep doing what she was doing. She assured me she would. We introduced ourselves and went our separate ways. The bubbles have returned nearly every day since.
I don’t know about anyone else, but February has been a hard month for me. Though the sun has been shining, the cold is unceasing and I have very little mental or physical energy. I am tired and I am sad. This woman and her bubbles have helped to ease that sadness, even if just a tiny bit.
Thank you, Bubble Lady. Thank you for reminding me that joy can be found in the smallest and most unexpected things. Cats, of course, know this lesson well — but we humans sometimes need reminding.
