The best things in life aren’t things!
Hello dear family and friends!
My mind is so full today, that I just needed to write! I have had so many wonderful experiences recently, and it feels like I always have something more important to do than write, so I’m up early today and typing, because I can’t keep it in anymore! I just got back from a cruise celebrating my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary, which was absolutely wonderful! I will write about the cruise, but in all my travels in life I see that the best things in life aren’t things… they are GOOD PEOPLE!
We got home from our trip a couple days ago. We had a friend dog and house-sit for us. My dogs are family, so my hardest part of any trip is leaving them. They think they are abandoned–even in their own comfortable house with all their needs being taken care of! Our two next-door neighbors kept an eye out and were emergency contacts, since there would be a lot of time on the boat we couldn’t be reached. Our neighbors are really good friends, which is so wonderful in itself! We were gone for ten days, so we really needed people to help keep our fur babies and house safe.
I have been truly touched by so many people in this life, and I wanted to write about a few of them today, especially those that have shown kindness recently. No matter what side of the country I am on, what part of the world I am in, it is the good people that make life great! You can have the fanciest house, car, or clothes, but if there are mean or rude people surrounding you, then happiness is hard to find!
Anthony and I talked to Steve, one of our neighbors, because we saw him outside right after we got home. He told us that he had mowed our lawn a week ago and put our trash cans out! He did this without being asked! I was overwhelmed with the kindness shown there! Steve is a truck driver, and his wife, Andrea works at the Y with children who have disabilities. They are gone during the day, and the last time I talked to them was before our trip, and we found out that one of their beloved dogs passed away tragically. I went over during the day to check on their other dog, because he was having issues. I felt helpless to be of any help! They had their own issues, but took time out of their busy lives to help us! Good people!!
Yesterday Anthony worked at the quick care and came home a little after eight in the evening. It was still sunny outside and extremely hot! We are having a terrible heat wave here in Idaho, and it was still over 100 degrees (f) outside. Anthony came in and told me that he just talked to our neighbor, Kevin! Kevin was mowing our front lawn when he got home! I don’t think he knew we made it home and wanted us to come home to a nice yard! My heart was overwhelmed with the kindness! He was working on his yard after work and at that time because he had family coming, but he mowed our yard too! Both of our neighbors knew we would be gone and went out of their way to help us! Good people!
I have a niece named Julia, who is one of my biggest supporters! She loves my blog and is so incredibly kind to me. When I saw her last, I told her I would put her in my blog, and she was so excited! I think of this a lot, because she has made me feel seen and important. Isn’t that what good people do? They make you feel seen and important! We all need that!
Being a good and kind person doesn’t mean that life is easy! Yes, Julia has a good life with a wonderful husband and two adorable kids! She also has type 1 diabetes, which has impacted her life dramatically from the time she was just twelve years old. Julia’s oldest boy was born with heart issues, which had her living at Primary Children’s Hospital for a few months before and after his birth. He wasn’t expected to live, and had two heart surgeries, a feeding tube and a pacemaker before he was even six months old! Julia and her husband, Kenny, had to quit school, move near family (in Las Vegas), and figure out how to make life work! The funny thing is that they weren’t even sure they could have biological children when they got married, but their children came quickly, and they adjusted by putting family first! Such good people!
Our vacation was an eight-day cruise to the Caribbean in celebration of my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary! We had such a wonderful time! What I really noticed was that, even though the cruise ship held a lot of people, we were not treated as a crowd, but as individual people. Our family met at the same table for dinner every night, and our servers knew our names. When they saw us in other areas, they would say hello! We knew their names as well: Idam, Winscel, and Jude. Our room attendant was Junior, and he took good care of us! We also got to know Nate, who played and sang at a piano bar on the ship. The personal kindness by the people who worked on the ship really made the trip for me. It wasn’t the fancy ship and amenities, although they were definitely nice, but the individual people, who really saw us and showed kindness that made the difference. There are good people everywhere!
I feel truly blessed to be surrounded by so many kind people! So many times in this crazy human experience, it is easy to feel unseen. I feel it a lot, as I deal with unseen issues due to MS. There are times I feel like no one sees or cares. That being said, I can name so many times where people DID see and DID care. I struggled with the heat and humidity a lot throughout our trip, as it makes it hard for me and I stagger around like a drunk (MS symptom). I was really grateful when one of my girls would notice and help me. All of my girls helped at different times, but Amanda is particularly good at noticing when I am having trouble and helping me. She gave me her arm to hold onto constantly and was always watching out for me. Amanda and I spend a lot of time together, especially in the summer, and I am so grateful for the constant kindness she shows me!
As for this blog, my Katelynn was a big reason I was able to get it going! Katelynn is my oldest daughter and we have always been close. We talk and read every night, and she has encouraged me in my many endeavors. She knew I wanted to do this blog for a long time and helped me make it happen! She is my computer scientist, but she doesn’t set up blogs. She does more programming and back-end work. She spent a lot of time helping me figure things out, just because she cares.
Well, I could go on and on about all of the amazing people in my life! I see good people everywhere! I might be getting tired right now, but I won’t stop noticing the good people in the world. That’s what I want this blog to do! I want it to make it so we both notice the good around us! We may live in a crazy, confused world, where it sometimes feels like there is never any good news, but I want people to notice that no matter the state of the world, there is still good to be found! There are people who care, and do good everyday– perhaps it’s time for us to spread the news!
I
Good 