The Power of One

[jen]

I kept one of my daycare families kids until 9pm, free of charge, because single Mom had to work late.

[DEBBIES DAYCARE]

I love my dad but he talks and talks...and talks... especially since his wife died... so I usually call him on the quick when he knows im busy, we chat a minute and lets me go. Last night I called him and let him babble ( 1 hour and 52 minutes!) the saaaaame stories I know by heart and asked him questions, even though I knew the answer and just let him talk and he was thrilled....he even called today to thank me for our nice chat last night. Patience with your parents goes a long way. We dont know how long we'll have them.

[Blackcat31]

I love my dad but he talks and talks...and talks... especially since his wife died... so I usually call him on the quick when he knows im busy, we chat a minute and lets me go. Last night I called him and let him babble ( 1 hour and 52 minutes!) the saaaaame stories I know by heart and asked him questions, even though I knew the answer and just let him talk and he was thrilled....he even called today to thank me for our nice chat last night. Patience with your parents goes a long way. We dont know how long we'll have them.

Bless your heart!! My FIL is exactly the same way and it seems lots of time goes by between our conversations/contact with him because of that and my husband ends up feeling so guilty. But it is hard fitting in a 2 hour (sometimes longer) conversation on a daily/regular basis. So good for you!!! I am sure you made his day!

[MarinaVanessa]

I spent most of my Saturday morning driving around to my friends, relatives and strangers houses (craigslist ads) picking up unwanted baby & kids clothing and handing them out. I'd go to one house then the next and if I had clothing in the van that they could use they would take it and give me theirs that were too small. Today my DC families got a chance to sort through them (I had already separated them by size) and take what they could use. The rest I will put away and bring out in a few months and see if they've grown into any of it. I like doing this every few months. Helps me out with my kids (6yo and 8mo), my DC families, my friends and family.

[GretasLittleFriends]

A friend of mine gave me a coupon for a free photo book on shutterfly. It expired today, but I made sure to use it. I ordered the book Saturday night.

I used it for a friend of mine who's baby died July 7th. Today he would have been 4 months old. He died unexpectedly (SIDS?). I "stole" all the pictures I could find from facebook and put them along with some poetry in this book. I did talk to baby's grandma about the project beforehand to make sure I wouldn't get in trouble and/or hurt peoples feelings for "stealing" their pictures.

I had something nice happen to me too yesterday. My dad came over and rototilled my garden. Our garden is huge and was starting to get away from me. It measures 50'x175'.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I met a 94 year old WW2 Veteran at a deli in Casey Key Village. I tried to let him get in line in front of me, but he insisted "beauty before age". Lol! I told him he didn't look a day over 80 and gave him a hard time (jokingly!) about him buying a cigar! He sat with me outside while I ate my sandwich and talked about WW2. He was so cool.

[PitterPatter]

It takes 1 to take a stand for or against something. Often others want to also take a stand but are afraid to be standing alone. They will stand with someone else and together they are greater than individually.
We should always speak out against injustice or wrong no matter who it is affecting and we should always stand up for those that cannot or are afraid to stand up for themselves. It's a much smaller world than you would think. Years later a kindness to some strangler or help to one can come back to you. There's a movie about paying it forward I think was the name. Doing something for someone else just because. No reward expected, just helping someone because. It is still all around us.

On edit: the other post here proves...what I said. It's all around us. You all are the proof.

The movie Pay It Forward is 1 of my favorites!! Such a great story!!

[SandeeAR]

Spent the weekend, out of town, with my husband's family. His Mom died Thursday. Spent time consoling DH. But......While in the hotel (shared a room with my DD and SIL), I gave up my portable "hot flash fan", to the SIL. He can't sleep with out some sort of "white noise" and he forgot his.

[DCMom]

Our neighbor is an awesome older gentleman who just loves my daycare kids; he know them all by name and is always bringing over things from his huge garden and letting them pick his flowers.

Anyway, his split rail fence between our yards was badly in need of staining; he commented last week that he liked the stain on my swing set and he would like to do his fence the same color. We were on vacation last week, so I stained it for him.

There were actually tears in his eyes when he came over to thank me.

He is such a nice man, it was my pleasure to do it for him. It was only a few hours of my time and it can't be easy being retired next door to a daycare!! ::

[kidkair]

All my fish were dying in the tank and one of my clients was talking about maybe getting a tank started but not wanting to pay for all the stuff to start it up. So once all the fish in the tank died I cleaned it all out and sun dried everything to kill all the ick that might have still been in there. I'll give it all to her tomorrow with hopes that she has better luck than I did.

And I sent a loaf of bread to my dad. He's so far away from us and can't afford to come visit so I sent him homemade bread to brighten his day.

[SilverSabre25]

I baked chocolate chip cookies for a dcm today. She miscarried a baby over the weekend, and although she was still very early in the pregnancy, I know how wanted and loved that baby was and how heartbreaking it was for her to lose it. She seemed so grateful for the cookies and hugged me and it felt so good. It felt so good just to do something small to make someone smile.

[Blackcat31]

I baked chocolate chip cookies for a dcm today. She miscarried a baby over the weekend, and although she was still very early in the pregnancy, I know how wanted and loved that baby was and how heartbreaking it was for her to lose it. She seemed so grateful for the cookies and hugged me and it felt so good. It felt so good just to do something small to make someone smile.

It's always the littlest things that make the biggest impact.

[grandmom]

I volunteere at the traveling Dignity Vietnam War Memorial Wall and helped people find names of fallen soldiers on the Wall.

[Cat Herder]

I volunteere at the traveling Dignity Vietnam War Memorial Wall and helped people find names of fallen soldiers on the Wall.

Thank you

It is breathtaking, isn't it?

The people that you meet doing that will touch you in a way few things can.

Were the paintings on display, too??

[familyschoolcare]

I gave a disabled lady a ride to and from a doctor appointment today.