We jetted in to pick up some parsley and water. Cortni spotted them down the first aisle. I quickly began cackling like a rooster and they both turned to see what was shaking. When they saw us we all laughed out loud in the aisle near the mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. He said they were buying fixings for a tuna melt, this sounded soooooo good, but we were buying fixings for a healthy, healing lunch at home of spaghetti squash, cauliflower, jalapeno, quinoia, lentils, brown rice, feta cheese, parsley and cilantro.......! We all hugged and kissed once on each side and parted ways, still laughing and cackling like old lady hens... We met again at the express check out line. I noticed, SHE, (instead of he) was carrying the basket which she set down and rechecked the items they were going to purchase. He said, " These stickers are for the chart, so when she does not have cig, she gets a sticker." This triggered a thought I had the night before of something Jake said regarding Haiti and all the turmoil. He made reference to being aware of the catastrophe and mindful of ways to help out. As I stood there staring at the stickers, thinking of Haiti I was squirming for words to say, they both looked at me blankly and then he said, "Well did you like what I said about Haiti?" I said, "No, I mean YES, I mean NO, I mean I like what you said, however I just notice so much poverty, turmoil, death, tragedy and so on HERE, I just do not understand the reason for one helping people thousands of miles away when they don't help their neighbors." He looked at me with a smile and I attempted to talk and explain myself about what I wanted to say and what I was saying is that Yes, it's great to help out, however why do we find such glory and honor in helping only occasionally and on a large, global scale, is it cool, is it in, is is a fad, is it like a ribbon sticker on a car? It seems that helping is a continuous offering, especially between our neighbors, family, friends, community and village. Is it noble to mail socks 3000 miles away when the man 2 doors down has cold toes, but last year he put dog poop in our mail box, so I am not giving him socks- I will mail them to strangers because this makes me feel good. And in addition everyone else is doing it! HUM.... We continued to jabber jaw, I attempted to swipe my card, and still talking, not paying attention, and the man said, "Mam, this is an EXPRESS LANE!" I said, " Oh, Oh, sorry." And he smiled and laughed at me cause I continued to talk and still fumble with the payment part of the deal. I said good bye to the clerk and uttered the name on his tag, he corrected my pronunciation and laughed harder at me, really he did. We left and I laughed too, cause I was having goofy behavior, failing at multi- tasking. On our walk to the car Cortni said, "Did you hear what the clerk said before he scanned our items, " I said, " No, of course not, are you kidding, I was talking a hundred miles an hour, I would not of heard an elephant walk by." She said, "He said- Welcome to another day in Paradise! Note to self-
PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS!
LET GO OF SELF IMPORTANCE AND EAGERNESS TO EXPRESS BECAUSE SOMETHING ELSE IS ALWAYS MORE IMPORTANT- THAN BEING RIGHT..
Would I rather be right or happy? HAPPY
A random act of kindness is negated the moment I am boastful about the act!
It no longer becomes random rather intentional and purposeful and demonstrates a platform for attention,
external kudos and admiration form others.
