Extra Mile

No one has ever become poor by giving. ~ Anne Frank

Thanksgiving Day 2013 did not unfold exactly as we expected, but there certainly was plenty to be thankful for. Late Wednesday afternoon, we found out that the family member we had expected to be hosting our traditional feast had been in the hospital with kidney stones. Fortunately, a stop at the store on the way home from work by my son-in-love, Doug, produced a turkey and the makings for dressing. 

Thursday morning started early, as we participated in Borodash (a fundraiser walk/run). It was a brisk 19 degrees when our warm hearts gathered at the start line with a dozen or more of our family members, including all of our grandones! Imagine walkers and runners—some clad as pilgrims, others as Indian maidens, and a wide variety of turkey hats!

Besides the sheer joy of being alive and spending time together, a highlight of the event was waiting to welcome the last walker across the finish line, a veteran who had one leg. It is hard to feel anything but blessed when you see how much some people are able to do with their lives, in spite of challenges along the way. 

So after the Borodash and breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we headed to the house to begin preparing our Thanksgiving meal. We began slicing apples and making preparations to get the pie into the oven. We had planned to take the famous Dutch apple pie—using a recipe cobbled together by my daughter, Stacey, following the death of her Grandma Smith. This year (hoping to move closer to the desired results of my mom’s pie), I brought a different recipe with me.

We realized we did not have any cornstarch. The Publix around the corner was closed so their employees (including our grandson, Adam) could enjoy Thanksgiving with their families. Walmart is quite a bit farther away, and likely would have been filled with shoppers getting a head-start on the Black Friday specials. The apple slices were already turning brown (and we were waiting for the pie to come out of the oven for the turkey to go in). 

Only needing ¼ cup of cornstarch, I sent my daughter (Stacey), and husband (John), and granddogger (Baxter), out to knock on neighbor’s doors. The first few houses, no one answered the door. The next house is occupied by a Hispanic family. The parents’ English would best be described as little-to-none. The young daughter tried unsuccessfully to translate. With the dad on his hands and knees mopping the kitchen floor in preparation for their own guests, the family graciously invited Stacey in, opened all their cupboards for her to look for what she needed. Even so, she returned without any cornstarch. 

We were in the process of trying to make substitutions, when we heard a knock on the door. The young girl and her younger brother were standing there, having been sent over with a container of what turned out to be flour. Stacey told them she had flour, but thanked them for trying. 

A few minutes later, another knock on the door, and they had returned with this box!

As Stacey and I took out the needed amount, thanked them, and turned back to the preparations of the pie, I was choking back tears thinking of loving and generous hearts that would motivate you to go to that extent to help someone. I was reminded of the stories of Jesus about going the extra mile. 

I may never know the details of the conversations between this young girl and her family, but I will always remember the unexpected gifts of this Thanksgiving Day.

Yes to the Best!

One year ago, my grandson Adam, had his wisdom teeth removed. This week, my granddaughter Courtney, did the same. One year ago, when I went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving, I was facing major surgery when I returned. This year feels so much different, and yet I have a sense of déjà vu. 

For sure, life is at any given moment more unsure than it seems, and also more sure. Last week a childhood friend of mine watched her husband die from lung cancer. We do not stay in these bodies forever….

When it is all said and done, what have I said and what have I done that has made life better for others? Have I picked up trash that I did not throw out? Have I held a hand, or opened a door? Have I dreamed a better way and done something to bring that dream into reality? I would say, yes. 

This week a wonderful young woman who has survived a LOT in her 29 years, told me a favorite funny movie of hers is Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey. 

Here is what I found about the film online: 

Jim Carrey stars as Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere—the operative word being no—until he signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything and anything. Unleashing the power of YES begins to transform Carl's life in amazing and unexpected ways, getting him promoted at work and opening the door to a new romance. But his willingness to embrace every opportunity might just become too much of a good thing.

It may be wise to exercise some restraint rather than saying yes to everything and anything, but what might the world gain if you brought your authentic self to the fore? Might you be another Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni or Ludwig van Beethoven? What awakened the destiny of Christopher Columbus or Jehanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc)?

While I was in the hospital (6 Garden at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka, Indiana), I was surrounded by angels working as nurses. I am grateful I thought to take photos. Throughout the year their faces have come back to me wrapped in the lovely memories of their kindness and compassion. They were the best.

Elizabeth

Francesca

Kristie

Pat

I wonder about each of them and what this past year has brought to them and to those they have cared for. As a tribute to nurses everywhere, paid and volunteer, I would invite you to say this prayer every day from now until the end of the year. "I say yes to the best." 

That's it. Short. Simple. Say yes to the best. Very easy to remember.

Storms

Tonight I am thinking of the many people who lost their homes (or loved ones) in the scores of tornadoes that slammed through the Midwest yesterday. It brings to mind when our friends, Roger and Sharon, lost their home along with every other family in their home town of Firth, Nebraska, May 22, 2004. 

Here the storm left my 90 year-old mother-in-love without electricity, so she is here with us. We were watching news and looking at some of the devastation on the internet. It is amazing how fortunate you feel when you see what others are experiencing. 

I certainly am aware of how blessed I was with the surgery I went through last year. Yes, I had a very large (21 cm) ovarian growth removed, and, yes, I had post surgical complications that resulted in my spending some time in high rent district (intensive care).

If you would like to be inspired, watch this TED talk by branding guru Stacey Kramer. It is three minutes long, and inspirational in both its brevity and its punch. Nobody wishes for adversity but sometimes it is a profound teacher. 

Tonight the thing that I am most aware of is how the human spirit survives the storms of life

—far more than one might think possible.