Tag: kindness

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The Best Thing

The best thing just happened to me. Maybe not the best thing EVER, but definitely amazing for the times we are living in.

There is a smaller-than-average Walmart near my house. Now I know many people are saying “stop giving Walmart your money” and other such stuff. But the truth is, during this whole “pandemic” I have not had any issues at this little Walmart; most people are just there to get what they need and get out. People don’t mess with you if your mask or scarf isn’t suffocating you to their liking, or scold you for walking the “wrong way” in the aisles, mostly people living their lives, just like me.

Today, I went to pick up a few things for New Years Eve, and a few things to carry us into the first week of January so I wouldn’t have to make a big shopping trip right away. Of course, I ended up putting a lot more than I planned into my basket and it was a bit of a balancing act getting over to the checkout. I had a full basket on one arm and a handful of chips in the other when one of my boxes of crackers fell to the floor in a busy intersection of the store (thankfully not many people around). And as I’m thinking to myself “How am I going to make this work?” an older gentleman who saw it happen, walks over, picks it and places it back into my basket. There was a bit of gracious chit chat along with smiles and thank yous muffled by my “mandatory” scarf, but it was an otherwise normal, friendly pre-scamdemic interaction.

Then, at the checkout, because I had loaded so much stuff into my basket, I had to tell the friendly cashier that I may have bitten off more than I can chew because I only had so much cash with me. He was super patient and friendly, chatting with me the whole time, and I did end up having to leave some stuff behind. As I was sorting through what was more essential and what I could leave behind, looking for the last item that would bring my total under the amount of cash I had, he says, “Don’t worry, if you have $75 I’ll cover the rest.” The rest was $1.82, not a huge amount, but he did that for me and it was amazing. Understand, it’s not because I don’t have the money, I had just left my wallet at home. It was amazing because kindness seems to be a rarity these days, and I said as much to him. His small act of kindness, along with the other gentleman who helped me with my full basket, made that shopping trip an amazing experience.

I used to really enjoy doing the grocery shopping, now it’s a source of stress to go out and see all the people subjected to this forced masking and ridiculous rules about what is essential and what is not (according to who???), people shaming each other for tiny infractions––things that, under normal circumstances, would not be considered infractions at all, like breathing air with your face uncovered, for example. But today, I got to experience the kindness of ordinary strangers and it made my day.

I was so tickled by the whole experience that I smiled all the way home. One lady who had to stop for me at the stop sign signalled me to cross, a bit exasperatedly at first, but because I could not get the grin off my face as I walked by she cracked a big smile too. And others smiled and nodded from their vehicles, neighbours passing on the sidewalk returned my big smile and said hello. It was one of those moments when the clouds part and the sun shines and literally everything feels right in the world. Just amazing! Thank you so much kind people! Thank you God. Thank you Universe. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that amazing experience!

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It’s Just a Phase

Please tell me it’s just a phase. Logic tells me it’s just a phase, but long days and short years feel otherwise; my kids are bickering all the time! Ok, maybe not all the time, but let’s say 95% of their waking time together in our house. Again, I could have a biased point of view here, (insert eye-roll), but nevertheless, it feels non-stop.

Does anyone else notice this: there’s three of them and when all three of them are together it’s non-stop bickering, but when there’s only two of them it’s quite nice. Is this like an odd-number thing? If there were four of them would it be different? Maybe, but I’m not planning to find out!

How do I make it stop? Can I make it stop? Maybe what’s more important is, what can I learn from this situation? One of the factors that played into wanting lots of kids, (I have four in total, but the oldest does not fall into this bickering squad), was because I am fascinated by learning about people, their personalities, what makes them tick, what they like and dislike, everything. I love getting to know people; I’ll be getting to know these kids all my life.

Life has a way of giving you exactly what you need. A dear friend of mine told me something along the lines of “You either marry or give birth to what you need to work on.” (I think it was something a friend said to her so sorry I’m not quoting the source, kudos to you, Wise Person, whoever you are!) Not to say you have to work on the people in your life, but rather that they reflect back to you your own issues that need attention. Couple that with the very real reality that it’s also your responsibility to help shape the children you choose to raise into conscious adults that can make wise choices for themselves and society, and you can see why most of us are in for an eye-opener when we take on the task of raising children.

We are having lots of talks about kindness lately. Lots of reminders that each day and each argument is an opportunity to practice kindness and patience. Almost constant reminders that each of us is responsible for our own choices, not the choices of others, and that we always have the choice to choose kindness––sometimes I fail at this, too. I’m still a work in progress, and these days I have plenty of opportunities to practice patience!

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Yesterday

I managed to go to sleep exhausted yesterday without writing the second post of my 100-day commitment, so today I will write two.

I used to hate making mistakes, even though I made a lot of them. I would beat myself up, telling myself I should have done better, done more, gotten it right, I should have known better etc. So, even up until not too long ago, missing a day on a 100-day commitment would have really gotten to me. Now I see it as an opportunity to write about this. To write about the choice I have to be kind to myself.

In fact, yesterday could have been a lot better. I could have accomplished a lot more. It was one of those days where my rhythm was just off. A day that could have been really productive just wasn’t. Or maybe it was and I just didn’t feel it. But that’s just it; I recognized it as one of those days. I had not had much sleep the night before, so I knew that lack of sleep was throwing me off.

I am very goal-oriented so I feel best when I’m accomplishing. Right now, even though I’m working on a lot of things, my main priority is running a household and being a mom to young kids that still require a lot of attention. So, what “accomplishment” looks like has to be a lot more flexible for me these days.

Yesterday, one of my kids stayed home from school. Yesterday, my biggest accomplishments were finding a deal on a giant carpet for my basement and then moving all the furniture out of the way for it to be installed today. Yesterday I encouraged, and was encouraged by, a friend. Yesterday I got in and out of the grocery store with two kids and no issues in less than 10 minutes. Yesterday I made a delicious meal for my family and managed to go to sleep earlier, (even if it was because I forgot to do my daily post!). Yesterday was not a write off, it was preparation for today.