Meet Susan

Here is her blog.

She writes about her life as a wife and a mother to her precious little boy Owen. Owen is almost one! Shortly after he was born Owen was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis Type 1 or NF 1 for short.

On May 8th there will be a walk to help raise funds and awareness for NF 1. Donate, walk, send messages, say a prayer for Susan and Owen and others families touched by NF 1 or any condition or disease. I'm sure this family and many others will appreciate any kind of support they can get.

I don't think it's asking too much for children to grow up as children and not have to deal with something like this. The best way to battle childhood illness is to be aware of it and face it head on.

Check out Susan's blog and try your hardest not to fall in love with Owen.

Kindness is not dead

This afternoon I had to make an unavoidable trip to Walmart.

If you've been reading this blog for the last year you know that I like to keep a positive attitude as much as possible. Life is too short to get upset about little things.

But even the most optimistic person has a little lapse now and then. Walmart on a Saturday afternoon is more than enough to send me into crabby and disgruntled mode. However, I was down to the last roll of toilet paper so I had to suck it up an go.

I managed to survive the madness with just a few run-ins with superbly rude and cranky people. I got in the first short-ish line I saw and piled my items onto the conveyor belt behind all the stuff that belonged to the woman in front of me. Poor her, she had a lot of stuff and had clearly spent a lot more time than desirable in Walmart on a Saturday afternoon. (Assuming, of course, that any amount of time spent inside Walmart on a Saturday afternoon is desirable.) & poor me for having to wait for her to check out first.

The cashier rang up her purchases and she swiped her credit card. He was really very swift and managed to ring her up and finish her transaction in record time. She took her receipt and took her time putting it in her wallet.

When she was done she just stood there.

I looked at her, and then at the cashier. Neither of us knew quite what to do. I was more than ready to pay for my stuff and get out & he had just turned his register light off. Time for a break! We both wanted her to get on with her business.

After a few seconds she looked at him, pointed to me and said, "I want to buy hers too."

What?

Did I just hear her right?

The cashier wasn't sure either so he asked and she confirmed that he had. "Ring hers up I want to get hers too."

I was shocked. I thanked her many times over & had to hold myself back from giving her a hug.

There was no one behind me so I couldn't pay it forward immediately & I'm still waiting for my opportunity to do so, which I fully intend to do.

But wow! Just, wow!

I think God was sending me a message about my crappy attitude. Lesson learned.

Food for thought

In 2003 for fall break my girlfriends and I drove up to Virginia to visit another girlfriend. She lived in Richmond and one afternoon we went up to Washington, DC to do touristy things and enjoy the beautiful fall foliage.

We weren't planning to eat a meal in the city so we took bottled water and some snacks. Close to sunset we decided we were hungry for real food and we didn't really want to walk around in the dark so we started to head back to the Metro station.

On our way we passed a man who looked pretty shabby. He was looking into one of the trash cans in the park we were in. I don't remember that he acknowledged us at all. We just passed him and went about our way.

A few seconds later my friend Shannon stopped us. She asked us all to give her the snacks and bottled water we had left. Then she turned around and walked back to the man digging into the trash can and gave him what we had.

It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen another person do. I don't know if any of my friends know this, but I teared up watching her that day, and I still get misty thinking about it.

Ever since that day I've made it a point to do the same selfless kind of thing.

Then today happened. I was walking out of the mall to my car and I heard someone call to me from across the parking lot, "Hello ma'am." I turned and there was a scruffy looking guy walking towards me.

I panicked, jumped into my car and locked the doors. He didn't stop his advance and I'm pretty sure he said something to me like, "I don't mean you any harm." But my instincts took over and I couldn't make myself react any other way.

He also kept walking towards me when he saw that I was upset and that just made me panic worse. He came up to my window and told me he was homeless and asked for some change. I didn't have any change or cash or food or water. I told him so and he said ok and walked away.

And then I felt horrible.

I realize that keeping myself safe is important and many women in the same position wouldn't have done anything differently.

But I can't stop thinking about how my reaction made him feel.

Common sense would say that he shouldn't have walked up to a woman alone in a parking lot with no one around. But when you're cold and hungry I imagine that common sense doesn't play a big part in your decisions.

This is what society is though. You never know when that person isn't really homeless and they want something besides change or a little food. Knowing this makes me sad and a little frightened.

I don't regret that I protect myself.

I do regret not doing something to help.

It started snowing a couple hours ago and it's supposed to keep going the next few days.

I hope he finds some warmth.