Apr 28, 2014
My first: I took a day when I could have worked and instead helped a friend in need.
Yes, I’ve helped plenty of friends with various projects, such as, moving, digging a swimming pool, putting up fences, hanging ceiling fans, etc…all free of charge. But all these acts of kindness had been done during my free time, of which I HAD plenty of.
On this particular Monday, I had plenty of work to do. One yard needed mulching and bushes trimmed and another needed mowing and weed eating. My sister was in need of ceiling lights and shelving to be installed. But my longtime friend Maureen was up to her ears in stress and completely inundated with a list of “to dos” to get ready for her move. And to exacerbate the “cluster”, her back pain shows up continually as an uninvited guest each day.
I offered a hand to help out with whatever she needed to get done. She was excited and grateful for my offer. I met her in St. Louis at her old apartment and loaded boxes in my car. I took her out to lunch, my treat. She wanted to pay since I was helping her, but I said “the day’s on me”.
When we got to her new place in Alton, I unloaded all the boxes from my car and then hung five sets of blinds. The day was long but it felt good to be a help to someone who I’ve love for 25 years and who really, really needed me. Money is no match to the feeling you get from doing an appreciated act of kindness. My work will be there tomorrow…
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