Simple Act of Kindness

I've found that we can do most everything that comes our way...with very little help from others. Since Joe has had surgery (and he vows no more surgery in the winter... if it can be helped) we've pretty much handled things ourselves.The only thing that I am having trouble with is the garbage collection. I'm fine with taking out the trash in good weather, but when it snows or we have icing, like yesterday, it's very difficult. Our driveway slopes down to the garage... making us have to climb up to the road with the can and then slide down to put the can away. Someone was supposed to do this in inclement weather, but he hasn't...so it's been up to me. Our garage floor is very slippery when we have snow on our boots. I fixed that by taking the carpet runner we have in the mudroom out and putting it on the garage floor...I can walk on that after bringing the cans back to avoid slipping.

Well the day before yesterday I broke down some boxes and took two cans out. Yesterday morning the trash collectors took the trash and there sat the empty cans. A few minutes later a knock at the door. It was Betty's husband... up the road....Bruce happened to be out for a walk and saw the cans sitting there. He brought them back to the garage and knocked to ask me to open the door. Snow had built up next to the door, since our plow guy had been there, and the front walk had snow on it. He offered to shovel the snow and make our entry safe. I can't explain in words how grateful I was. This simple act of kindness made me almost cry.When I was a girl my Mom used to say that people earned their angel wings by doing kind things for others...without having to be asked.

So, that brings me to what I want to say today.There are all kinds of people in our lives...some who have to be asked to help and then there are those who know right away... what needs to be done. Sometimes just a simple act of kindness means so much to another.Someone who has a family member in the  hospital might be touched by a jar of chicken soup at the door. Taking a casserole or a homemade cake to a person who is recovering from surgery. A good book to read for a person recuperating. A simple visit with valentine cookies to a shut in. A simple hug. A loaf of bread, warm from the oven. Someone to bring the mail in....and a lovely neighbor who saw my trash cans sitting near the road and a sidewalk that needed shoveling.
Thanks, Bruce...
Balisha