more random acts of kindness needed

don't you hate it when you feel like you have a ton of things to say but don't know where to start? now that i have a little time to myself, i think too much. i think that i (and i suspect many others) make my life harder than it needs to be. i think i put too much stock into fairly irrelevant things (i.e. a clean bathroom, whether or not punkin eats all of her broccoli) and not enough in the important stuff. i think i have lost sight of gratitude and have gotten sucked into the machine that is modern-day life.

all of a sudden, on december 1st, people start feeling charitable. we move aside in the grocery store when someone is trying to grab the can of sliced pineapple that we are standing in front of. we hold the door for the lady coming into the building after us. we have made Christmas into a one-day-a-year lovefest that should really be going on all year (okay, maybe sans the gifts and decorations). but we are so wrapped up in our own lives that we don't notice that lady as the door shuts in her face. we automatically throw away mail from charitable organizations, perhaps thinking that we'll donate at Christmas. we take the last can of sliced pineapple.

i am going to throw out a challenge - not only to you, but to myself as well. let's look up from our lives every day. let's do something kind, whether it's taking the time to play "school" with our kids or giving a stranger our 50 cent off coupon for butter. instead of throwing the remote control across the room in anger when the batteries go dead, be thankful that you even have a remote and batteries in the first place. when your spouse does that thing that he/she knows annoys you, instead of getting angry, appreciate the fact that your spouse is with you, even if he/she irritates you sometimes. try to live so that you have no regrets. take the chances you were too afraid to take. hug your family and tell them how you feel about them. talk about things that are bothering you.

and then next Christmas, while everyone is scrambling around to get gifts and be charitable, you can sit back and be satisfied that you have done this all year. that this is the way you live. and you can spend another day with your friends and family, being grateful for what you've been given - except that day, you'll probably have a tree in your living room.