How many times have you done something kind and had it return to you years later?
Yesterday I met a lady in a store who told me she remembered me from several years previous. She was getting off the bus as I was getting on. I didn't remember her but she said she remembered seeing me about midnight coming home from work night after night at that same bus stop. Sometimes she said she was so sad, tired and afraid but when she saw me smiling she knew everything was okay. That was during the 7 years when I worked over 100 hours a week so it doesn't surprise me that I don't remember much. I am in the habit of smiling at people even though in the city you are often told not to.
But this time she came up to me in the store to tell me her sister had died a few weeks ago. I offered her the traditional condolences and then, as is my practice, reminded her that our loved ones are closer than we think when they leave. Dee also told me that her son was born exactly 11 years before her sister died and that her sister died exactly 20 years after her mom died. She was in this dollar store looking for vases to divide her sister's ashes with some other people . She asked if I would help her find appropriate containers. She didn't want to go through this alone.
I led her to several items I had seen earlier that week and we talked a little more and exchanged phone numbers. I became aware of how much of a comfort that little smile had been to her when she was coming home late at night. I was not aware of how much just smiling at her on that street corner had meant to her...just one of those senseless acts of kindness...returned to me as a big hug and a big thank you several years later. I finally told her about losing my son in April. I told her how much it had meant to me that both my mom and my son, although they lived short lives, had lived good lives. WE agreed to talk again soon.
GOD brings us together for a reason at times. You never know how far your kindness will go. When you need it, it comes back to you when you least expect it.
Here's to Happiness in unexpected places ~ MOTHER NANHI