Kindness Matters

I don't know who she was but her face has been stuck in my head for the past hour now.

A couple weeks ago I vowed that I would never take all of my kids shopping with me at once again. It wasn't that bad of an experience...I mean, we've had worse. But for some reason we seemed to have been quite a sight on our last grocery trip because we got an incredible amount of comments. Comments like "Wow, you are a brave woman," and of course, "Are they all yours?" I have four children and I am often told that I don't look old enough to have four children. I am. Four children does not seem like a huge family to me, I am one of six siblings and my oldest sister has eight. (That does seem like a huge family.) I occasionally get comments on my size. At our yard sale an older lady was looking at a size 4 dress I was given that was just too big for me (it was a big 4). She said, "These are all your children and you can wear a size four? Congratulations!" Thanks for the skinny genes, Dad. Anyway, one of the ladies in the grocery store that day could not seem to get over my little gang. She kept going on and on, talking to others, saying things like, "Geeze, that's not for me." In the check out line when someone again congratulated me for my bravery to bring them all shopping with me, I responded, "You do what you have to do. I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to." Needless to say, by the end of my shopping experience, I was drained and a little bit weary of my kiddos, who really were behaving quite well, considering my non-chipperness. So we got home and I said never again (which I fully knew was an unrealistic declaration).

My point, after the lengthy digression, is this: Kind words make a world of difference. I cannot begin to tell how my life has been altered by people who have taken the time to offer kind words, words of encouragement, words of affirmation. I can still see her face. I was at the grocery store today with the whole gang, bagging my groceries, dealing with hungry, tired children, in the most compassionately firm way possibly while bagging groceries and holding a wiggly 10 month old at the same time. She came right up to me and looked me in the eyes. She said, "You deserve great appreciation." That's all. I stopped, a little stunned. I said, "Thank you." I wish I had said much more, but really, I was a bit overwhelmed at a complete stranger offering so rich and sincere word of kindness to me that for a moment I was at a loss. Then she was gone. I hope I see her again. I would tell her how much her simple act of kindness meant to me and how I will remind myself again to be aware of others around me and to offer myself in that same way...even if it's just a kind or encouraging word.

My life has been affected again and again by thoughtful strangers and aquaintances who have taken the time to compliment or encourage me as a mother. We all need affirmation, to know we're doing a good job, to know it's going to be okay, to know we're not alone. When something like this happens in my life it makes me realize once again that I am a part of something much bigger.

What if we all took the time to be aware of the needs of others around us (at home and away) and learned to be liberal with kindness?