^{Image taken from Our Awesome Planet}

I love kaya (coconut-egg jam). Nothing beats thick creamy kaya with butter on toasted bread with black coffee on a rainy day.

I have a story to tell you.

There's this lady who sells pandan-flavored kaya in little plastic containers around the MBPJ neighborhood. It says 'Lemon-grass home-made kaya', I think. She would walk around with a basketful of kayas, visiting all the restaurants from tables to tables at night. One thing about her is though. She would hurry from one table to another, never stopping long enough for someone to respond to her 'sales pitch'.

Well, she doesn't really have a 'sales pitch'. She makes no eye contact and she doesn't even linger long enough for anyone to hear her say;

'Sir/ma'am, would you like to buy my home-made kaya?'

Before you could even look up, she'd be gone. Bit one time, I managed to stop her. So I asked her;

'Auntie, how come you walk away so fast? I love home-made kaya and the last time I'd wanted to buy, you just walked away. You should slow down...'

She replied quickly;

'I am sorry sir, I am afraid I am disrupting people's dinner. I don't want to interrupt people's conversation. People don't like it.'

'But I can't even buy what you are selling if you rush away so quickly', I said.

She looked away and smiled shyly and said, 'I am sorry sir.'

She's tallish and slightly on the thin side with short greying hair. I think she's about 50 years old. She speaks very good English. She looks like a loving mother who's doing what she can to earn extras to feed her family. In fact, she looks like a primary school teacher.  

I had wanted to tell her she needs to know her kaya is very good and she isn't really interrupting anyone's dinner or conversations if she sells something so delicious. In fact, she should think differently. She's doing me a big favor, selling me the delicious memory of my mom's home-made kaya. I couldn't understand why she does that everytime. She can sell at least 30% more of her home-made kayas if she could just linger 10 seconds longer.

But I think I understand her better now.

After what I did myself. 

What holds you back from sharing and giving your best gift everyday?