Friday August 14 2015  PEOPLE WHO CARE ARE PEOPLE WHO SHARE

Absolutely no reason for my title.  I just liked the little calendar quip for August 14 when I turned the page over.  Remember, there is no copyright on it.  But for what it is worth, I do think the two lined poem is true.

What did you share today?  Have you ever asked that question of yourself?  Or maybe, what did I give today?  I ask these questions because the Calendar quip reminded me of a book I read several years ago.  The book, “29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life” by Cami Walker.  This book was quite interesting.  It was about a young wife who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  She declined rather rapidly and was in a deep depression.  She called an older woman who was her friend and asked her if she could come over.  Cami bemoaned everything to this friend on the phone.  To put it in a nutshell, the older woman told Cami to quit thinking about her problems and look around her and see others who were worse off than she was.  This friend told Cami to quit feeling sorry for herself.  Her further advice to Cami was to find a gift she could give to another person today and then to do that for 29 days in a row and it would change her life.

Well, Cami didn’t like her unsympathetic friends advice one bit and did a little griping for a few days. Then she decided to take up the challenge.  Her first gift, if I remember correctly, was to call another acquaintance she knew who also had M.S.  She thought she would call her up and try to cheer her up on the phone.  What happened was that this acquaintance she called ended up cheering Cami up.  This gave Cami pause for thought.  She would think of another gift to give someone the next day.  Cami was in extremely bad shape and couldn’t even walk up and down her apartment steps.  What happened through the course of the first month of 29 gifts in 29 days is remarkable.  This is a true story.  So I decided to try it at home.  This is one of those things that you don’t have to say “Don’t try this at home”.  If you miss even one day of giving you must start from the beginning again and go another consecutive 29 consecutive days.  I decided to try it.  What happened in that first month was so amazing to me I could not believe it.  I wish I had it at my finger tips to share all the amazing things that transpired that month but all the details are in one of dozens of journals and I don’t remember which journals they are logged in.  I read the book from the library and then bought a second had copy and ended up giving that copy away.

I am going to share just one example of what happened that stands out in my mind during that first month.  Just so you know you don’t have to stop after a month.  A gift can be a lot of things that does not cost money, such as opening a door for someone, doing a chore that they normally do, taking back another person’s grocery cart when they unload their groceries, or picking a flower from your garden and taking it to a neighbor.  So many little gestures can mean so much to the recipient.  Well, on a Saturday morning I left home early to attend a lady’s one day retreat at church.  I stopped by the Subway to buy myself a sandwich because we needed a lunch and I did not make one for myself.  So, I decided to buy two sandwiches and give it to the leader to anonymously announce at lunch that if anyone didn’t have a lunch there was a lunch waiting for them at the podium.  At lunch time she did just that.  Immediately someone jumped up, excited and hopeful.  She hadn’t had time to prepare a lunch and was very hungry.  It felt awesome to do that for someone else.  Now fast forward a few days later.  There was a woman that worked at Q-doba on Fish Hatchery Road.  When I was there one time she gave me a coupon for a free burrito.  I was very touched by her generosity.  She was the manager.  I wrote a poem “You can Never be too Kind” and dropped it by for her.  It delighted her immensely.  My poem was the gift I gave for that day.  Well a few days after that I was back at Q-doba (that’s when I ate fast food) and she asked me to wait because she had something for me and had been watching for me to come by.  Her husband worked at another place called Buffalo Wild Wings and she had two gift certificates for me for $25.00 each.  I was flabbergasted!  Not only that, she gave me several (I think 4) more coupons for free meals at Q-doba!  Her generosity was overwhelming.  When I told Dave about it he said, “Well, I guess you just can’t out give God”.  I was not expecting anything in return for my experimental 29 days.  It was awesome to be so blessed.  More and more incidents such as that happened that entire month.  And you don’t have to do it for just one month.  Give it a try, I promise nothing in return except great feelings you receive from sharing with other!  It is God who sees our heart and our motive.  As Cami gave that first month she noticed her health improving to the point she could walk again and do so much more than she ever thought possible in her situation.  I recommend reading the book.  Some of her spiritual beliefs are a bit different than what I am used to but overall the book is well written and worth reading.  I’ll tell you one thing, I got way more than a sandwich in return for my little six inch tuna sub.

The busier you are, all the more reason to do it.  I’ll see if I can find the poem I gave the Q-doba lady.  That will actually tell me when this all happened because I date each poem the day I write it.  I guess I still give every day if you count “ADVICE” as a gift.  Oh well, nice try.

Today I was up earlier, so I guess my morning did come earlier after all.  And I wrote a poem.  It is downstairs in my journal in the library so I will include the one I discussed above for today’s blog.  I do hope you enjoy it.

Dave and I took separate cars to the gym today because I had a string of errands to accomplish.  While at the gym my friend Judy called me at noon to ask me if I could go to our favorite place to get COCONUT CREAM PIE!  When I speak of this COCONUT CREAM PIE it is with reverence, in capital letters.  It is a vegetarian restaurant downtown Madison named THE GREEN OWL, and their food is so delicious.  We both love the pie.  So I rearranged my errands (no time restraints) and high tailed it to downtown for out 1:00 o’clock rendezvous.   That pie was delicious!!  And…(another gift given to me) Judy would not let me buy my piece all because Dave and I took her with us in the back seat to our last Saturday’s party in Pardeville (where I bought the chairs). Not only was the company great but she blessed me with her unexpected generosity.

After leaving downtown I accomplished the errands I had been trying to get to all week and was home by 6:00 p.m.  I already had dinner prepared so I ate and now I am here doing my little blog.  My first hopeful Saturday day off tomorrow will be taken up by doing the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep photos for the family as the baby’s funeral is next week and they need the montage by then.  And Sunday is our dinner with the kids here and then the boys will be left for two night to have fun with us.  I must remember…NO ICE CAREAM!  NO ICE CREAM!  The oldest is allergic to milk just like Courtland was.  When I took Courtland to visit grandma and grandpa for the weekend I always reminded them no milk.  But he always had allergic reactions the next day.  One day I asked them explicitly if they had given him milk.  No, they had not.  Then later in the conversation they mentioned how much he loved ice cream.  Oh dear!  I told them he couldn’t have ice cream either.  That was a great blow to both of them and to Courtland, because of course, he did love the ice cream.  He was two years old.  They didn’t give him anymore ice cream.  And, guess what?  I’ve done the same thing.  I guess it is just something grandparents want to do.  Well, now I make fruit smoothies with rice milk.  The little kids think that is pretty cool!   One of my best memories of Dave’s folks is remembering how very much our children so loved their grandparents.  Dave’s father was already 84 years old when Rebecca was born.  We were saddened at the thought that he might not live long enough, due to his advanced age, for the kids to be able to remember the grand old man.  And he was grand!  Well, he lived to be 101 years old.  Rebecca  was 17 and Courtland was 14.  They still cherish their memories of their grandparents.  Dave’s mom lived about another 10 years and the children remember her vividly also.  Ruth was 18 years younger than her husband John.

I was able to find the poem mentioned above on an external hard drive.  It was written in January 2012.  I remember starting my first month of giving in December of 2011.

 

YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO KIND

 

Kathleen Martens

January 19 2012

 

When you meet someone kind,

A rare treasure is what you find.

A peace shines upon their face,

Accept their gift with gentle grace.

 

Realize you’ve been given a gift,

Perhaps their smile or a word that lifts.

Tuck that pleasure in your heart

And turn to another to impart.

 

Kindness is beauty like a nugget of gold

Though not purchased, traded, or sold.

It is GIVEN without cause or motive,

An act of joy, unselfish votive.

 

Think of ways to another give,

How you think is how you live!

Remember you can never be too kind,

For tenfold blessings you will find.

 

Over all, today was another wonderful day of living.  Always busy but ever so grateful for the gift of life, regardless how busy I seem to always be.  Someday I am going to figure out this thing called life and remember I am retired and try to slow down.  I really do want to do that.  I have so much more I want to accomplish.  Uh oh!  I want to get un-busy so I can do other busy things.  That makes no sense.  I love it!

 

Good night!  Have a great weekend.

P.S.  I just had to go ahead and write a short poem tonight to include in closing.

 

 

LOOK FORWARD TO WHAT IT BRINGS

By Kathleen Martens

August 14, 2015

 

Words cannot mere express

The gratitude I feel

When I awaken to a new day

To find what God reveals.

 

For each day is born anew

A gift given from our King

Accept it with a thankful heart

Look forward to what it beings.