And... Here Comes That Kindness Thing Again

After spending some really delightful time in Minneapolis recently and encountering so many nice people I was reminded of the importance of taking just an extra minute to be kind. Sometimes it shocks people ~ they don't quite know what to think. (That's when it is the most fun.) But more often than not, the kindness is returned. Maybe not in that exact moment but it will come back to you. I like to call that karma. 

Yesterday I visited my new dentist - a sweetheart of a girl. Isn't it strange how overnight my doctors, my PAs, my acupuncturists, my dentists, my hair dresser ~ are all delightful young women. Wow. I'm officially old because they could quite literally be my daughters...  

In their chosen professions each one of them is intelligent and confident and professional. I am in awe of their accomplishments at such young ages. How happy it makes me that young women are entering these occupations and excelling! I came of age in the era of Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan and admire them still. So to see these young women doing what they do with such zeal and vigor makes me very happy.

And every single one of them is kinder and more compassionate than the next. It's reassuring to see that still exists in what sometimes seems like a terribly selfish and self-centered world.

So yesterday I was happy that maybe I was able to add a bit to the kindness factor in a small way.

I was in Bed, Bath and Beyond just bidding my time, perusing all the fun stuff, you know ~ as you do.  

I have a pillow obsession.

So la, la, la ~ and suddenly over the store's speaker system I hear, "Will the owner of a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee please come to Customer Service."

Heart sinks. The Mister and I have odd attachments to our vehicles and the Jeep has been mine for the last 7 years...

The manager explained to me that a little elderly woman had scratched the side of my Jeep with her side mirror on her gigantic black car. She was waiting by the Jeep.

I walked out and saw that she could have been my Mom about 5 years ago. Bless her heart. She was standing there with her USAA insurance portfolio in her arms. 

I said, "Hi. What happened?"

"I was backing out and when I did I noticed I scratched your beautiful car." She ran her finger across the "scratch." And I noticed when she did that the "scratch" seemed to disappear.  I ran my finger over the "scratch" and it totally disappeared. I still don't know what it was - dust? Whatever, it was gone.

I looked at her and said, "No problem - it's not scratched."  

She audibly sighed, put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Oh are you sure?"  

"Yes - see? No scratch! Thank you for being so honest, though!"

She smiled. I hugged her and said again, "Thank you for being honest. You have a good day now!"

I joke with my friends that I'm Pollyanna. Don't get me wrong ~ I'm not all kumba-ya all the time. But I find I do feel better when I throw some of that into the mix more often than not.

That karma thing? Trust me; it's real.

Be Kind to One Another

When I left Iowa at 19 I spent a short stint in Canada then moved to Colorado. Since September of 1974 I have called it my home. So I have officially celebrated my 39th year in my adopted home state. And over those 39 years I have made a LOT of road trips across the vast state of Nebraska to visit my family in central Iowa. In the early years it was just cheaper than flying with little kids. In the later years it was because we couldn't bear to be without our Boo for a week, so she always traveled with us.

After our trip in 2012 we knew that she didn't enjoy traveling that far anymore. So even before we knew she wouldn't be with us for the 2013 trip we had decided to leave her home in the loving care of our pet-sitter. Sadly she didn't make it that long.

I told The Mister that if I had to travel by car across Nebraska one more time my head would explode. (No offense, Nebraska peeps - it's just a very long, straight road to drive with the same scenery for 39 years.  Yikes.)

So we decided to fly ~ but also mix it up a little and see some country we haven't seen that much of.  We decided to fly into Minneapolis, spend some time there and rent a car to make the three hour drive to Mom in central Iowa.

We left our home at 5:45 am last Saturday (taking time to make breakfast and weigh our bags.) We parked in the outlying airport parking, snagging a parking spot 40 feet from the bus stop. Oh and as luck would have it, the shuttle bus pulled up right behind us. And we arrived at Denver International Airport as the sun rose.

Someone had booked our seats in the emergency exit row where there is no place to stash your bag under the seat in front of you. I'm a girl. I have to have my stuff.

 

So we joked with the ticket agent and bingo bango - we have better seats. The Mister thanked him for saving our marriage. 

We were fortunate to be among the first to board and our flight attendant instructed everyone as to their designated spot for carry-ons. She requested we put ours under the seats in front of us. (She and I got along fine.) I watched her as the remainder of the plane boarded. She was friendly and smiled but every inch of her 5' 100 lb. frame was all business. If she told you that was your overhead bin space, you listened. She joked and called herself "Judy the Baggage Nazi."

Get this - the pilot came out and talked to everyone. First thought, of course, omg the flight is delayed. Quite the contrary ~ he was welcoming us all and said if it was alright, we would be departing a bit early.  We arrived in Minneapolis 20 minutes ahead of schedule. As we left the plane I paused to thank Judy the Baggage Nazi and told her I had never been on such an organized flight!

Next step was to pick up our rental car. Someone had requested the wrong size car so the Hyundai Sonata we had hoped for wasn't available. Again, humour and patience paid off. The girl at Avis went above and beyond to find one for us. We waited. She came back and said, "You've got your Sonata!  I stole it from Budget."  

The Mister to our Avis agent, "Don't you own Budget?"

Me to our Avis agent, "You do now!"

Again The Mister thanked her for saving our marriage and we left fast friends.

So we check in to the Marriott (10 minutes from the airport) and have an afternoon to kill. Mall of America (MOA) is across the street, so what the hell ~ let's go see what all the fuss is about. We're walking, we're walking, we're walking. We stop in a few shops. A new carry-on bag with a padded shoulder strap was in order; my shoulders were killing me.  (Hey my carry-on was heavy but both checked in bags were 36 lbs and well under the weigh limit!)

I love handbags but I've never been into name brand bags. I'm more of a Marshall's/Kohl's whatever bag is on sale gal. But over the years my Mom-in-law and BFF/SIL have sent a few Vera Bradley's my way and I think they are kind of works of art. So when walking into the Hallmark store in MOA looking for something else, I stopped by the colorful Vera Bradley section in the front of the store. The bags aren't within my normal budget but I did fall in love with an extremely colorful one. (As Emile Zola said, "If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist will answer you: I am here to live out loud!") When I saw it had a padded shoulder strap, the deal was done. However... I kind of wanted to see the rest of collection in that pattern and theirs was limited. 

I asked the friendly clerk about that and she said if I really wanted to see all of them the Vera Bradley store was one floor down. And she said it genuinely and with a smile. So I finally found the store, took a quick look around and promptly took myself back to the Hallmark store and the nice lady and bought the bag from her.  Because she had been generous and honest and kind.

Considering every loop around MOA is a mile, we did our 5 miles. We found the delightful Napa Grille and plopped our sorry tired behinds down in seats on their patio. Our friendly server brought us our kale, chicken, roasted butternut squash and goat cheese salads. They were quite yum.

And so began our salad tour of the Midwest. And the oh so healthy side of fries almost every time.

As we were leaving I found our server to thank her and I found myself saying something Charlie's Gannie always said - what his Mother always says - "Have a happy life, sweetheart."

 

The Mister and I remarked as we were saying good night that wasn't it interesting how smoothly the day had gone. Even with a couple of bumps kindness begat kindness; laughter begat laughter and patience paid off.

 

There's a lesson there, grasshopper.

 

The Power of a Little 3 x 3

Remember when Berger broke up with Carrie on a Post-It Note?  So cold.

I'm counting the number of Post-It messages stuck to my monitors and speakers right now.  Let's see... 16. And three - oh wait - four more that have fallen down due to loss of stickiness.  I need a Post-It to keep track of my Post-Its.  They have important messages like: 

• passwords (come on - can you remember all of yours?) 
• ideas for blog posts 
• quotes 
• charities I want to follow up with 
• vacation ideas 
• when to pay my Old Navy bill (Yes, I'm an Old Navy girl. Where did you think all those Hello Kitty tees came from?)
• what size duvet cover to order 
• when the pink chenille will be back in stock at my favorite online fabric store 
• a reminder to carry our caterer/chef's business card in my purse 
• movies and TV series to check out on Netflix and Hulu+
• thank you notes to print and send
• canvas wraps to order
• and for some inexplicable reason - a note reminding me that back in 2010 I lost 26 lbs in a few weeks. That's probably to make me feel guilty every time I pop another mini Reese's peanut butter cup into my mouth...

You know, important stuff.

I keep a lot of my reminders on my Outlook calendar but for some reason I can't give up the Post-Its. The Mister and I are constantly putting Post-its on the door to the garage and the front door to remind us of things as we leave the house. (I think my kids do this, too. Apples. Trees.) 

I've had a Post-It by The Mister's espresso machine for three months to remind him to clean the dryer vent. I think he looks at it as a beautiful work of art now because I included flames indicating that if he doesn't clean the dryer vent the house will burn to the ground. 

I put Post-Its on the bathroom mirror to remind me when I have an appointment somewhere (dentist, hair,etc.) because I live such a workaday routine I have to remind myself to leave the house.

The Mister even writes me little love notes on Post-Its (very unBerger-like).  I tried to find the last one - I know it's purple and it was last seen in the kitchen junk drawer. If you saw my junk drawer you would understand. It is the Black Hole of useless things. Except love notes, of course.

I couldn't find the purple one but I remember the day I went out to my Jeep and this note was on the seat. With the Mister's business card - just in case I didn't know who left it. Yup, that's My Mister. :)

Last night, however, I learned a new way to use Post-Its. One that can make a person's day, bring a smile ~ who knows, maybe change a life.  And it all started with some little kids. (Take 2.26 minutes and take a peek at that video ~ it will make you smile!) What a sweet and simple idea to take a wall in a school ~ or in a workplace ~ or even a home ~ and let someone know you appreciate them.  Random Acts of Kindness. Little notes of gratitude. 

And a little boy who is exceptional at tying shoes.

So I think I'll hang on to my Post-Its and my obsession with them.  They're handy little things for - oh I don't know -  making someone's day.

xoxo, peeps Y 

Balance, Kindness and The Meaning of Life

When my sons were little I vaguely remember them watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood occasionally, but we were more a Sesame Street family.  So it is interesting that recently as I am seeing more and more about Mr. Rogers and his life in the news and on Facebook, etc. that I feel I am just learning what a wonderful soul he was.

Reading this article just reinforced that. I had a laugh. I had a tear. And it made me want to be a better person. It made me wonder how I can do that.

Life for me is changing and I'm kind of a big ball of mush these days so that's probably why Mr. Rogers is speaking to me.  I've been so focused on making my business a success

that a lot of things in my life have kind of fallen by the wayside the past few years.  Balance is difficult for me but maybe it's time to make time and remember the really important things

(And I might add - cats, too!)

And probably most important...

Baby steps. Again. Still.

The Good Guys Win

Sometimes people come along who totally restore my faith in humanity.

David Henneberry is one of those people. Never heard of him?  He is the guy who discovered Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, hiding in his boat out behind his house.  Not only did he alert police thus bringing an end to the nightmare Boston had been living for days, but he did something really awesome after that as well.

A thoughtful and generous man in Texas started a fund to repair Henneberry's boat and the effort snowballed.  Before he knew it $50,000 had been raised ~ enough to replace the boat!  

Henneberry was grateful but philosophically responded, "It makes me feel wonderful that people are thinking like that, but it is my boat. People lost their lives and lost limbs. I'd rather [that money] go to One Fund Boston. To buy me a new boat is a wonderful thing. I don't want that, really. They lost limbs. I lost a boat."  

(Wait. Here's a tissue for ya'.)

I read somewhere later that he added that he had a canoe out back.  That will do until he can afford a new boat.

Some people.  Some people are the reason the Good will always outweigh the bad.