Lesson learned........

The hardest part of performing random acts of kindness is stopping long enough to take a breath....


It's been a weekend of holiday happenings here in Judiland. Amid the parties and the shopping and the getting ready, life must go on. And, it does. My family gets hungry, my aunt needs help with my uncle, my husband wants to do major financial planning, my father wants a meal at an unscheduled time and I get tired. So tired that I can't see straight or think about anything else but what lies ahead undone. Trust me, if I did any random act of kindness--I couldn't even tell you about it. Because it happened without me knowing it. So, today...I'm just going to say that I didn't do anything unkind. If anyone has any reason to thank me for anything....it might because I did things for them that I enjoyed or was necessary. When I put together a gourmet goodie basket for a friend's party, it was because I take great joy in that and I dearly love my friend. If I fetched a Wendy's chicken sandwich and a yogurt parfait for my dad and my uncle instead of what they really wanted (hamburgers and fries), it's because I want them to live longer by eating healthier....even if it gets them an extra hour in this lifetime. If I did the dishes or the laundry or cleaned out my son's bedroom, it's because that's what needed to happen. If I lugged all of my daughter's gently used but no-longer-fit or no-longer-loved clothes, boots, coats and shoes to the Goodwill--it's because she has too much and we have run out of room to store things we no longer use. If the bonus outcome of that is that some young girl who has less finds those items under the Christmas tree--it's a result of my own child's good fortune. You see...sometimes we just do what we do because we do it. There's no grand plan or magic or great intent. It's just who we are and how we live our life and how we hold our lives and our world together. Sometimes the living wears us out and we can't do anything extra. On days like these past few--we have to hope that it's enough. It shouldn't be this hard but sometimes it just is. There's always tomorrow....

On a brighter note--I went to a party and saw people I haven't seen in a very long time. You know....I have to confess... I'll never grow tired of hearing the words..."OH MY GOD, YOU'VE LOST SO MUCH WEIGHT!" I was not too tired to revel in the beauty of it all. I'm human, what can I say?