Kindness is bombarding me.
Little kindnesses. The kindness of strangers. I decided in this year of turmoil that I would focus on small gestures that bring moments of joy. Once I started thinking about these little kindnesses, I remember so many and witness more happening around me every day.
Kindness is bombarding me.
Sometimes Kindness is help when I need it. Sometimes it is generosity. Sometimes the kindness is just making me smile. How lovely it is that total strangers can still make us smile.
Here are a few, both remembered and recent:
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This summer while walking the dog, I came upon a trio of teenagers on skateboards. They got off their boards, and I sort of prepared myself to be harassed by these tough-looking boys. The biggest, scariest one (and teenagers can certainly be scary to older women) approached me and said, "Can we pet your dog?"
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There is a woman in Yoga whose soul is so kind, she sometimes seems to have a halo that surrounds her. Actually, what she has is the most beautiful, thick, curly, gleaming auburn hair. She doesn't tie it back during practice, but lets it make a wonderful curtain around her as she holds her graceful poses. And she sometimes brings her baby and I can hear him laugh and coo during sirvasana - which is the best Yoga sound in the world.
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My friend's husband: I know her well, but I hardly know him at all. But I know that sometimes he sends her flowers for no reason at all. So I love him for the best reason of all.
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The chocolate maker at the nearby dairy farm knows her cows so well, she will tell you by the smell of milk who gave it, and when you buy a chocolate, she'll say, "That's from Queenie." How sweet it is to feel that your candy is a gift from a big good-natured bovine.
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Years ago, when I used to travel to New York frequently for business, I often had to take a big box of files and my laptop computer (which wasn't small or light back in those days). I had one of the pull-carts to help me with my load. On the return trip, the train station in Fairfield has two flights of stairs to go over the tracks to get back to the parking lot. Once in a while, I struggled with my heavy and precariously balanced cart alone. But most of the time, a kind man - or woman - would pick up the bottom and we'd haul it up the stairs together. It was so easy - with help.
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Going back even more years, I was taking the bus home from college one day, and I slept past my stop. I had to grab the next bus back the other way. But I was totally broke. I went up to a man who looked nice, and explained my dilemma, and he gave me two dollars. I have never had to panhandle since. But a few years later (still in college, since I went to school just about forever) a homeless man at a bus stop in Waterbury asked me for five dollars. I only had six dollars myself, but I gave him five anyway, because... Karma.
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Just today, my husband and I were out to lunch at a restaurant we had never been to before. The online reviews said the place was 'warm & friendly.' As we were waiting for our food, a very old man came in and sat at a booth across from us. The waitress went over. She sat down across from him and said, "I hear you've been sick, Walter. Tell me all about it." He briefly explained his illness, and the waitress said, "That's horrible, Walter, I'm feeling for you." And only then did she take his order.
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Then there's my mother's hairdresser. This woman never met my mother before she started working at the salon near my mom's home. But if my mother calls for an appointment, this kind woman will get in her car and pick my mother up and bring her the two blocks to the salon. After, she'll take my mother home. And she'll say to Mom, "Don't you bother your daughters. They're so busy. Just call me anytime."
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And my favorite smile - probably of all time. When I was in my early twenties (and going to college of course), I worked summers and holidays at the phone company. One gorgeous summer day, I went for a walk down Main Street on my lunch hour. As I waited to cross the street, a woman came up to me. She said, "I just have to tell you ... as soon as I saw you... Thirty years ago I went to high school with a boy who looked exactly like you. Exactly." Then she told me his name. My father.
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As I said, Kindness is bombarding me.