Kindness

Mackin Ink recently challenged the blogging sphere to a blogging contest. The topic: kindness. The picture is from Peonies and Polaroids. Both blogs are very fun to peruse. Here's my 'entry'.

In a box filled with all our important papers there is a letter. It’s a thank you note, and it’s from a stranger.

Several years ago, we were late for a party. At the end of the street was an elderly woman, pulled over with a flat tire. We’d driven a block before my Sweetpea pulled over in front of a lemonade stand and told us to buy lemonade, he’d be back. He came back to say he had a flat to change and to take the girls to the party; he’d call when he needed me to come get him.

I have to say, my thoughts weren’t nice. They were of inconvenience. It was a party, and we were late. But my husband, he is always kind.

And so, when several weeks later he received a thank you note, I knew. I knew that his simple act of kindness was big. It wasn’t just a flat he changed; it was his way of living, his way of being in the world. And it was special.

My way of being of the world is not always so nice. It’s about control. It’s about wanting things my way.

I hold on to the letter, because I need the girls to never forget. Their Dad, he was kind. And I hold on to the letter because I need the future generations to understand. This man, this grandpa, this uncle, this father-in-law, he was kind.

When my mother tells me my biggest Pea left “I love you” notes all over the house, I know that my precious Pea, she understands. And when my littlest Pea tells me she’s been thinking of different ways to sing, “The wheels on the bus go round and round” to get her cousin to sleep, I know. She understands.

So this thank note, it stays with our most important papers. Because this man, he understood the importance of kindness.