Last spring, a large chalkboard mysteriously appeared one Sunday morning at the corner of 14th and Q, NW. At the top of the board in large letters were the words “Before I die…” Below that were rows and rows of smaller words that said “Antes de morir quiero ___________.” Before I die, I want to _________. A small bin of colorful chalk invited people to write their wishes on the chalkboard in the blank spaces.
Within days, the board was packed with wishes like a “crowdsourced bucket list” and eventually spilled onto the sidewalk and spread beyond the borders of the chalkboard.
“Before I die I want to meet my father.”
“Before I die I want to forgive my mother.”
“Before I die I want to save a life.”
“Before I die I want to be in love.”
“Before I die I want to make you proud.”
“Before I die I want to kiss Philippa.” (I still want to know who wrote this!)
Every few days, someone washed away all the words and replenished the chalk, and the chalkboard would fill up again so much that you could hardly read the wishes after a while.
Because I lived just a few blocks from where the chalkboard hung, I’d walk by it numerous times each week and always stopped to see what new wishes had been added. The wall seemed to provide an outlet for many people to express things that maybe they couldn’t otherwise say. Some wrote whimsical desires. Some expressed political messages. Even NPR aired a story about this wonderfully reflective opportunity that sprung up in a city that takes itself a little too seriously sometimes. After a few months, the chalkboard disappeared.
A few months later, I started noticing hand drawn, photocopied sheets of paper tacked up along 14th Street that said things like:
“Today is awesome!”
“Life is short. Take chances.”
“It’s Friday, I’m in love.”
My favorite one said, “Take what you need.” Along the bottom were words like love, forgiveness, confidence, peace, hope, inspiration, happiness. You could tear off the word you wanted or needed and take it with you.
I took a picture of each sign and posted the images on Facebook where the dozens of “Likes” each picture received spread happiness across the internet. Many of the signs included an email address at the bottom that said makedcsmile@gmail.com, but I didn’t try to find out who was making the signs. Not knowing when I’d see the next one or what it would say, and not knowing who was behind them made each encounter feel more magical and marvelously mysterious.
One summer day when I was feeling pretty down and unappreciated, I saw one of the “Take what you need” signs at the corner of 16th and V and the only word left was “LOVE.” I tore it off and stuck it in my wallet and carried it with me for months. It would wondrously fall out of my wallet anytime I needed a little boost.
Soon after, I started seeing very small figures made of brightly colored pipe cleaner holding a red heart in its tiny arms. These little figures could be found hidden in the crevice of a building’s facade, or placed atop the spike of fence post, or sitting in the bend of a tree branch. Like the chalkboard wall and the sheets of paper with simple messages, the amount of joy they created was enormous and I was constantly on the lookout for them. I soon learned that the figures were called “Little Heart Man” and he had his own Facebook page.
I finally decided it was time to find out who was spreading these unexpected tokens of love and delight and got in touch with Massoud Adibpour, the Make DC Smile sign maker, and with Lorie Shaull, the creator of Little Heart Man. Massoud had been inspired by the “Before I die…” chalkboard. Lorie had been inspired by Massoud’s signs. I have been inspired by both of them! They were both as enthusiastic and lovely as I imagined they would be and I started to see how infectious happiness could be when spread about in such authentic, unexpected, perfect, simple ways. I once read that you had to experience seven positive things to counteract one negative thing. These two have been doing their part to create a few of those positive experiences for the rest of us. It’s up to us to create the rest.
