Good Deeds

It is very easy to focus on the bad. It's all around us everyday. You are bombarded with it in the news, in peoples hysteria on email and other social networking sites. But today, it was all about good. There is good all around us. In fact I think there is more good than bad. We just don't see it unless we are actively looking for it.

This past week, I have really been trying to recognize and acknowledge all remarkably good things that happened to me or that I witnessed. The only word that describes this for me is gracious. I see people's grace. I see God's grace.

You want a list? You want proof? Well the evidence suggests that if you look, you will see.
1. Tonight, I watched the full moon rise from the edge of a cloud. It was truly magnificent! It's not that often that in Oregon, you can see a break in the clouds, especially at night. I was filled with awe.
2. I watched a man approach a woman at the can return at Fred Meyer. He asked how she was doing, and then handed her a leaf bag full of cans to redeem. He told her to have a nice day. She was dumbfounded, and he walked away with a smile on his face.
3. My friend offered to pick up a 50lb box of apples for me. I didn't have to twist her arm. She just was being nice. A small, but thoughtful act of love.
4. My children were taught piano today by an exemplary lady in my congregation for free. Usually, she teaches them on Thursday, and they missed last week because I was canning beets. She went out of her way, and gave up her Monday afternoon, to make sure that my children could get their lesson in. What an amazing example of love.
5.Today, while I was about to enter a grocery store, a man offered me his empty cart. Again, a small act, but an act of love none the less.
6. This morning, a woman held the door for me while I entered my son's preschool. She wished me a good day with a smile on her face.

I didn't earn any of this. It was given freely without price. And today, I am grateful for the goodness that surrounds me.

Chart House, the Annual Tradition

Stacey and Tonya took me to a crazy movie right after Kevin died. It was serendipitous. Little did any of us know that is was all about a widow and how she fell in love after her husband had died. Ben Affleck and Gwenyth Paltrow did a great job...but it was definitely not the intended message that either of them wanted to provide me at the time. Then there was the Rugrats movie I watched just days after Kevin's death that was all about how Chucky's daddy gets remarried. He was a widower. It was as if Kevin was trying to speak to me through Hollywood! I can laugh about it now. It's really quite funny. Thing is, one of our last coherent conversations was about the fact that I was never going to get remarried. You say things like that when you really don't want your husband to die. The thought is just too revolting. But he made sure that I got it...it was ok and he really wanted me to move on. I did.

To make up for their little blunder, we began going to the Chart House to make a new memory. Now it has become a fabulous tradition to eat amazingly expensive seafood with a too die for view and hot lava chocolate cake with Heath Bar sprinkles. We enjoy each other's company. Sometimes we share our exciting lives and other times we are fuming over our trials, but it is a day to look forward to instead of dread.

Here's to many more happy memories Stacey. You always will be my widow buddy. Life keeps getting tougher for both of us, but we are tough cookies and we have great taste!