wednesday was one of those days where by about 5pm my energy was zapped. i was super tired, the work day was really long and frustrating, and there were about a million things that i felt like needed to get done. so when deciding what do about dinner (because of course plans to get to the store didn't happen either by the time we were all hungry) we took the path of least resistance. malena and i met barrett at whole foods and we each picked out what we wanted and had an inside picnic at one of the tables.
we got so busy talking and catching up on our days and life that we ended up staying there for close to 1.5 hours. by the time that we left the day was drawing to a close and nighttime routines were going to be starting.
as we started to walk towards the doors, malena said to me "momma, you need to get your money out so that we can buy a paper."
there is a local paper in the seattle area called "real change" and the paper is sold by low income/homeless vendors. the papers are sold for $2, but the vendors pay $.60 for the paper and they keep all of the proceeds. many times there is the same man in front of this store selling the papers, and i always buy a paper from him when we are going into the store. i feel like if i am lucky enough to be able to walk into that store and buy the food my family needs, then the least that i can do is give $2 to a person who is standing outside the store working to make money for themselves to live. i have explained to malena about the vendors and why they sell the papers, and she is often the one to give them the money and get our paper for us.
but as we walked out the door, it was the first time that she had reminded me to get a paper. she said "momma, when we were walking in i saw his stack of papers were there but he must have been inside because he wasn't standing by the door. but i knew that he was here so i was watching so we could get our paper when we left." so we bought our paper from the man, got our usual great smile from him and wished him a good night, and headed for home.
as we were driving home, i thought about an article my friend kimberly recently posted called i don't get it all done. i loved the article the first time that i read it because her words completely resonated with me. so on that night i thought about how i didn't get to the store in time to make dinner at home, i didn't get anything done on my to do list, there was laundry on the floor of the laundry room, girl scout cookie stuff i still had to finish, and the list went on and on.
but i did spend time eating some favorite foods, talking for a long time with barrett and malena with no distractions (and for a time that lasted longer than it would have if we were home and moved on to something else right after we had finished eating), and got to watch the kindness of my daughter as she made it a point to make sure that we bought that paper.
it was another great reminder that the day may not always be perfect or go as planned, but as long as the things that really matter are still the focus, that is what this ride is all about.
i don't know about you, but i kind of love this ride.
on this friday morning, mary continues her ride of kicking melanoma's you-know-what as she heads in for her procedure today to remove the melanoma tumor from her leg and to have a biopsy done on her sentinel lymph node. so please send all of your prayers, love, and good mojo to wisconsin today. this is her 7th round with the black beast, and i just know that this will be the round when she gets the knock out.
have a good weekend all, hope it gives you the chance to leave the laundry behind and do something that actually matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment