Flowers Say More Than Words

There is a lady named Kim who works at the nursing home I visit weekly. She is in her 50’s and is in charge of one of the morning tea trolleys. She also has down syndrome.

She’s beautiful and I love her. Every Monday when my two year old and I visit she always makes time for my son. She stops hands him a biscuit, sometimes two, and continues on her way. She is the only one that does.

So today I wanted to express just how much my son and I appreciate her and all she does, in more than just words. So on my way in this morning I stopped and bought this small bouquet of pink roses to gift her. Needless to say she loved them. She wasn't expecting it at all and although I’ve thanked her many times before, today these flowers said more than my words ever could.

I like to imagine that right now these pink roses are sitting somewhere in her home and every time she looks at them she is reminded just how much she means to someone and how special she is. Because that is exactly what they were intended to do.

Richard

 I know a man with no legs. His name is Richard and having no legs, naturally, he is in a wheelchair, but that isn’t the point or relevant to this story.

I’ve come to know Richard quite well and have known him for about a year. Every week I visit a local nursing home and sit with and chat to the many residents there, including Richard.

Richard loves iced coffees, smoking and puzzles. Boy does he LOVE puzzles! He is actually quite incredible with them. He can complete a 1000 piece puzzle in under 2 weeks. I’m not sure if that’s impressive but to me it is. Then again he does have a lot of time on his hands being in a nursing home.

As often as I can I’ll bring Richard in an iced coffee but what I love most is buying him puzzles! I don’t do it often, 3-4 times a year. Every time there is a bookfair on here I pick up a few 2nd hand puzzles for a few dollars. Last week I did just that and today I was able to gift the puzzles to Richard.

Now, this is the thing. I never actually give them to him, instead I go to his table set out only for him and his puzzles and place the new puzzles on the table and walk away. He has no idea it’s me and I like it that way.

A few weeks later I’ll see him working on the new puzzle and telling me how he found a new one and how happy it made him.

Do you know how happy this makes me?

To know that I made him happy. That something I did, something so small can bring another person such happiness makes me just about weep. There is nothing I could ever buy that would give me the joy that giving joy to another person and making them happy does.

It’s such a simple thing but I love it, and it always has me thinking of all the little things we can do to make anothers day.

know a man with no legs. His name is Richard and having no legs, naturally, he is in a wheelchair, but that isn’t the point or relevant to this story.

I’ve come to know Richard quite well and have known him for about a year. Every week I visit a local nursing home and sit with and chat to the many residents there, including Richard.

Richard loves iced coffees, smoking and puzzles. Boy does he LOVE puzzles! He is actually quite incredible with them. He can complete a 1000 piece puzzle in under 2 weeks. I’m not sure if that’s impressive but to me it is. Then again he does have a lot of time on his hands being in a nursing home.

As often as I can I’ll bring Richard in an iced coffee but what I love most is buying him puzzles! I don’t do it often, 3-4 times a year. Every time there is a bookfair on here I pick up a few 2nd hand puzzles for a few dollars. Last week I did just that and today I was able to gift the puzzles to Richard.

Now, this is the thing. I never actually give them to him, instead I go to his table set out only for him and his puzzles and place the new puzzles on the table and walk away. He has no idea it’s me and I like it that way.

A few weeks later I’ll see him working on the new puzzle and telling me how he found a new one and how happy it made him. Do you know how happy this makes me? To know that I made him happy. That something I did, something so small can bring another person such happiness makes me just about weep. There is nothing I could ever buy that would give me the joy that giving joy to another person and making them happy does.

It’s such a simple thing but I love it, and it always has me thinking of all the little things we can do to make anothers day - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/my/story.php?sid=53292#sthash.Wmn2BMmT.dpuf

know a man with no legs. His name is Richard and having no legs, naturally, he is in a wheelchair, but that isn’t the point or relevant to this story.

I’ve come to know Richard quite well and have known him for about a year. Every week I visit a local nursing home and sit with and chat to the many residents there, including Richard.

Richard loves iced coffees, smoking and puzzles. Boy does he LOVE puzzles! He is actually quite incredible with them. He can complete a 1000 piece puzzle in under 2 weeks. I’m not sure if that’s impressive but to me it is. Then again he does have a lot of time on his hands being in a nursing home.

As often as I can I’ll bring Richard in an iced coffee but what I love most is buying him puzzles! I don’t do it often, 3-4 times a year. Every time there is a bookfair on here I pick up a few 2nd hand puzzles for a few dollars. Last week I did just that and today I was able to gift the puzzles to Richard.

Now, this is the thing. I never actually give them to him, instead I go to his table set out only for him and his puzzles and place the new puzzles on the table and walk away. He has no idea it’s me and I like it that way.

A few weeks later I’ll see him working on the new puzzle and telling me how he found a new one and how happy it made him. Do you know how happy this makes me? To know that I made him happy. That something I did, something so small can bring another person such happiness makes me just about weep. There is nothing I could ever buy that would give me the joy that giving joy to another person and making them happy does.

It’s such a simple thing but I love it, and it always has me thinking of all the little things we can do to make anothers day - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/my/story.php?sid=53292#sthash.Wmn2BMmT.dpuf

I know a man with no legs. His name is Richard and having no legs, naturally, he is in a wheelchair, but that isn’t the point or relevant to this story.

I’ve come to know Richard quite well and have known him for about a year. Every week I visit a local nursing home and sit with and chat to the many residents there, including Richard.

Richard loves iced coffees, smoking and puzzles. Boy does he LOVE puzzles! He is actually quite incredible with them. He can complete a 1000 piece puzzle in under 2 weeks. I’m not sure if that’s impressive but to me it is. Then again he does have a lot of time on his hands being in a nursing home.

As often as I can I’ll bring Richard in an iced coffee but what I love most is buying him puzzles! I don’t do it often, 3-4 times a year. Every time there is a bookfair on here I pick up a few 2nd hand puzzles for a few dollars. Last week I did just that and today I was able to gift the puzzles to Richard.

Now, this is the thing. I never actually give them to him, instead I go to his table set out only for him and his puzzles and place the new puzzles on the table and walk away. He has no idea it’s me and I like it that way.

A few weeks later I’ll see him working on the new puzzle and telling me how he found a new one and how happy it made him. Do you know how happy this makes me? To know that I made him happy. That something I did, something so small can bring another person such happiness makes me just about weep. There is nothing I could ever buy that would give me the joy that giving joy to another person and making them happy does.

It’s such a simple thing but I love it, and it always has me thinking of all the little things we can do to make anothers day - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/my/story.php?sid=53292#sthash.NiO1WnG9.dpuf

I know a man with no legs. His name is Richard and having no legs, naturally, he is in a wheelchair, but that isn’t the point or relevant to this story.

I’ve come to know Richard quite well and have known him for about a year. Every week I visit a local nursing home and sit with and chat to the many residents there, including Richard.

Richard loves iced coffees, smoking and puzzles. Boy does he LOVE puzzles! He is actually quite incredible with them. He can complete a 1000 piece puzzle in under 2 weeks. I’m not sure if that’s impressive but to me it is. Then again he does have a lot of time on his hands being in a nursing home.

As often as I can I’ll bring Richard in an iced coffee but what I love most is buying him puzzles! I don’t do it often, 3-4 times a year. Every time there is a bookfair on here I pick up a few 2nd hand puzzles for a few dollars. Last week I did just that and today I was able to gift the puzzles to Richard.

Now, this is the thing. I never actually give them to him, instead I go to his table set out only for him and his puzzles and place the new puzzles on the table and walk away. He has no idea it’s me and I like it that way.

A few weeks later I’ll see him working on the new puzzle and telling me how he found a new one and how happy it made him. Do you know how happy this makes me? To know that I made him happy. That something I did, something so small can bring another person such happiness makes me just about weep. There is nothing I could ever buy that would give me the joy that giving joy to another person and making them happy does.

It’s such a simple thing but I love it, and it always has me thinking of all the little things we can do to make anothers day - See more at: http://www.kindspring.org/my/story.php?sid=53292#sthash.NiO1WnG9.dpuf

Caring For Another Mans Children.

You know what I love .... seeing a man care for and provide for children that are not his.

In the supermarket earlier I passed a girl I knew and her two children. Pushing the trolley was a man who I know for a fact is not their father. He was playing with them, kissing them and treating them as though they were his own.

When they time came to pay for the weeks worth of groceries I watched as he pulled out his wallet and paid for them all.

I personally believe it takes a strong man, a good man, an amazing man, to love a woman and her children, and to provide for another man's kids.

That man today earnt my respect. Bless him and his heart.

Starting Conversations

You know what I love? How kindness and love spreads.

I was in the supermarket earlier today to pick up a few things. A lovely older lady served me and as she showed interest in my 2 year old (he was climbing up and out of the trolley) I decided to start a conversation with her. We spoke about her grandchildren and how crazy they were and children in general.

Not long after another older couple join the cue and as I pay and leave I notice that they begin a conversation and carry on from where we left off, grandchildren. The whole mood and atmosphere in the line changed. One friendly conversation changed it.

I have learnt people are dying for connection. To be spoken to and seen. It doesn't cost a thing to say hello how are you, and really mean it. Yet how many of us do? The days I do it always reminds me how much I must do it more.

Fed By Spoon.

I took Olga out over the weekend, the elderly lady who I visit weekly through a volunteer program and whilst out I happened to feed her with a spoon. As I was feeding her chocolate cake I had a moment and realised that this, right here, right now, is love. I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for her, me and all of this.  How in life as babies we are all fed from spoons and yet later in life it returns again, this time being fed by the kindness of others.

As I was feeding Olga and watching her happily accept it from me I started thinking how it was only a year ago we met. We were complete strangers and now here we are out sharing chocolate cake and spoons.  

People assume we are family and I’m her granddaughter and I love that. I love the bond that two complete strangers can form in such a short time. Love is that bond and I believe it ties us all whether we are related, strangers or know each other at all.

Be You. Everyone Else Is Already Taken

I’ve recently come to learn that there is no point in being anyone except who you are. So many of us try to be someone were not. We do it without even realising…

When you meet a new friend, apply for a new job or start dating someone new. You do it. We all do it ... be the person we think they want us to be not the person we are.

In the past I have done this. Believe me I have done this… I remember as a young girl pretending to like all sorts of things I didn’t just so he would accept me, love me and want to be with me. I remember pretending to be into hot rods and heavy metal music once. SO not me!!!!

But what I have learnt and what I know now is there is no way you can keep that shit up! The years and time I have wasted in my past turning myself into another’s persons view of me is crazy.

Now though, now I am me and you can love me or hate me but I am me, this is who I am and there is nothing more freeing than to be just that.

Be yourself everyone else is already taken.

Nothing Seperates. WE Seperate.

I often say that we are all one and nothing separates us. No religion race or colour, we are all human. All here to share, to love and to learn. I was thinking of a great example of this today. If a man has fallen and lay hurting on the ground and reaches to you for help or if a child falls into a body of water unable to swim and is slowing drowning.  What do you do? 

Do you not jump in to save the child? Do you not bend down to help the injured man? 

Or do you keep walking because that child or man is Muslim, Catholic, African, Asian or homosexual?  No.

We are all humans. We all suffer, we all experience pain and we all want love. So why do we separate and box each other into groups?

 Maybe I’m unusual but when I look at another I don’t see their label, I see the soul within. The part of them that is just like me.

What Is A Soul Mate ...?

Someone recently commented on a photo of my partner and I saying that we look like soul mates and it got me thinking ...

I honestly believe that your soul mate isn't someone who is exactly like you. It isn't someone who loves all the things you love, who has the same interests, or the same dreams and inspirations, that's a friend, not a soul mate.

A soul mate is someone who brings out your worst side but also your best. Someone who at times you can't stand to be with or near and this is good thing. A good thing because in that moment they are testing you and your love for them. True love will stand there, everything else walks away.
A soul mate is someone who you can be at your worst with and say the things you'd never say to another. Mean things even. They are your soul mate because you know that when you do (as mentioned above) they will not walk away. They will stand there, accept you, and forgive you.

That to me is a soul mate.

They come in different packages and are always a reflection of you, not a mirror. A mirror would mean finding someone who is, well, exactly you and that would be boring. A reflection is someone who returns and reflects back to you what you give.

If you give the relationship love, trust and all other nice things then naturally they will be reflected and returned back to you. If you give the opposite, well watch what reflects back.

Swallowing Your Pride

On the weekend I said some things I later regretted. I had a phone call with someone I love and I wasn’t supportive or loving, instead I spoke with anger and inflicted my own opinions onto them.

After I hung up I felt terrible. I guess I was filled with regret and remorse and wished I had handled it differently. In the past I would have sat on this feeling for days, perhaps even eventually convinced myself that the person deserved it and that I was right. In fact I may have even been right this time but that doesn’t change the way I felt in that moment. I had not treated this person with the respect they deserved so I had to fix it.

I wasn’t quite ready to speak with them again so I emailed them. I apologized and asked that they forgive me. They did, and not only did they forgive me but they asked for their own forgiveness. This showed me how opening ourselves up to others and admitting when we are wrong can lead to a better relationship.

It’s hard to admit when we are wrong and that we stepped out of line but what good does it serve if we don’t? The relationship is then the one that suffers. So I am grateful for this weekend’s lesson as I discovered that personal relationships are far more important than my own pride.