Yep, that is the way my life goes. I love it! Hubs and I are determined to get these two little terror tots housebroken, so this morning before the sun even thought about peeking over the horizon we took them for the first of their long walks. They are still a bit nervous in the darkness so we usually just do a quick potty stop and let them back in. I definitely believe today started a new chapter for us.
We ran into a couple that we absolutely adore, they are almost my couple goals. Everyday they head out armed with trash pickers and bags and go for long walks around not only our neighborhood but the surrounding community. They are kind to everyone and they love animals and stop and love on everyone of them that is willing to be loved on. They carry treats for the neighborhood indoor/outdoor cats and the feral cats that roam. They love our grand cat Franklin and always stop to ask us about him. Just yesterday we had seen them on their walk and they asked about Franklin. We told them that he had a tumor and had to have surgery (our daughter is such a great pet mom) he will be inside mostly for the next 3 to 9 months as he recovers, because he needs medication every 8 hours while he heals.
This morning as I was sitting here drinking coffee I got a text from my daughter. They had bought a get well card and treats for Franklin. I almost cried. The pure goodness in the world sometimes is too much for me. They don't know my girl, they've met her during the Halloween parade, but they went out of their way to find a beautiful get well card that has a kitty that looks like Franklin on it and took the time to wish him well as he recovers.
These are the same people that give the greatest Halloween treats to all of the kids in the neighborhood, not just generic treats but full size candies or small toys that will bring them joy. They take the time to collect them and then stand their and help the kiddo's select from the plethora of items. Often allowing those eager little hands to have one for each hand. A sweet and a treat.
Like I said, serious couple goals.
I loved the feeling when I read that text message. I loved knowing that there is such strong goodness flowing heavily all around us. It got me to thinking about blankets of goodness that are covering our world, often invisible to the naked eye, only able to be seen and felt in the heart.
My own sweet Hubs is one of those guys. He is often scouting out used toys, bikes, basketball hoops, guitars are some of the things that come to mind, he fixes them up and always seems to have a list of kids that would love them, even when their parents might not have the money to get them for their babies. He simply donates as needed. A year round Santa Claus.
One of our friends took his own lunch break yesterday to help us identify where the electrical short was for our grand daughters play room. In exchange for lunch, he helped Hubs find and fix the problem. If she had needed to call an electrician it would have cost her far more than the nothing it cost. Ended up the light switch blew, Hubs and I had one sitting around - from changing out the lights in my sewing room. So 15 minutes of time, problem was identified and repaired. All for the price of a wonderful lunch with a friend and a dish of homemade keto snicker bites.
We have another neighbor that has a small mailbox of puppy treats below her mailbox. She has them there for all the neighborhood puppies to have a small snack on their walks, in honor of our retired mail lady who always gave out treats to all the pups. Hubs and I are so inspired by it that we will be making our own pup treat box, we are also going to put some poo bags in there, because all too often folks either run out or forget them. This is the same neighbor that arranged to have our neighborhood lending library created.
Doing good for others simply feels good. It spreads and feels contagious. I think that is the kind of contagion that we need to start spreading.
I've been thinking heavily about the things I wrote about yesterday. It's one thing to identify the holes or problems, it is quite another to bring about solutions. My daughter and I were talking about things that were lacking which is one of the things that led to yesterday's thoughts. She is looking to run for trustee in our neighborhood and she was talking about some of the community building things she is interested in implementing. One of them being encouraging people with skills to share them with others in the neighborhood. We have people that are incredible gardeners, some photographers, a crazy number of us are skilled at multiple crafts and skills.
All of those things have been moving around in my brain. My life is so different than it was, I have a lifetime of experiences that I could pass on. Do I think a lot of kids or even adults for that matter want someone to help them learn some of those skills? No idea. But I am one of those older people I was asking about. I am someone that has knowledge and information to pass forward. Now to just figure out how.
The first person to share their love of creating with me that I remember was my Greek landlord when we lived on the island of Crete, her daughter was right around my age, she assumed that I would be able to create the same beautiful tapestries that Maria could (oh heck, I can't believe I just remembered that name out of thin air). I couldn't come close and disappointed her greatly. I'd never learned. I was only in the 5th grade, I didn't have the skill set available to me. Even though Maria had about a quarter of her hope chest filled with beautiful pieces to fill her home when she married, all done by herself, I had never stuck a needle through a piece of fabric in my life. I'd created Barbie clothes with glue and scissors, but never more than that. I remember the sting of letting mamas' down. She'd invested time and energy into fueling my own desire for the handmade, for the ancient homemaking skills and I let her down. Maria had been stitching since she was barely 5 years old. I couldn't hold a needle and was making a terrible mess.
I would love to share the knowledge that I have worked so hard to obtain with others. I simply have to figure out how I am going to do it. I mean do you simply put up an ad? Do you make flyers? Do you knock on doors. Wow, this reconnecting with community is confusing and complicated.
Well, that is enough pondering today. The babies are sleeping and I have things to finish before they awaken to start playing again.... more things to think about. Open to ideas and suggestions...
much love and peace...
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