I've had such cool experiences with kindnesses. I have had such love and charity thrust upon me when I needed it most and I try my best to pay it forward.
Years back when I had no money and was the single mother of two small children the kindnesses were poured on me and mine so much that we ran out of room to receive it. It was overwhelming, inspiring, and uplifting. One Christmas in my small home town we were showered, not sprinkled, SHOWERED with a deck filled with wrapped presents and goodies. I've never seen anything like it. Piles of them everywhere I looked. I literally burst into tears there was really no other reaction for it was there? Sheer gratitude filled my heart.
My mother, a wonderful example to me, has always been the kind of woman that goes out of her way no matter what to help others with her love and kindness and charity. It was a phenomenal way to grow up and experience that. And I'm happy to report I'm a lot like her. Always looking for ways to give and to help and I'm sure somedays my husband feels like my dad used to. Why does she put herself through all that? I'm glad that I'm like her it's compliment to be like her.
My dad doesn't always think this of himself but over the years this man has become a little more tenderhearted each year. I love him for that. I watched him growing up helping neighbors and friends build this shed and that driveway and this house and plant that garden. Tremendous service! That's not little like my oh they're sick I'll make them dinner a few nights to help them out that's full on sunburn body aches all day hard work. Impressive.
And my parents to me are so brave. They don't even see it the way I do but they are. I have that really big it's so enormous it barely fits on this earth I can't trust anyone thing which I lividly hate and have tried to conquer forever and even though I feel like I'm not getting anywhere I still try. So to me their wonderful wandering in my younger days impresses me also. We wandered all over in the summers. LA, Kalispell, whereever. They seemed fearless to me the way they would just wander around these places with us talking to strangers like they were always a friend and discovering the world they were in at the time. I barely go for walks in my neighborhood for fear someone's big dog or some derranged man will attack me. Probably won't even happen but again I don't trust anyone. But I try to be like them when we travel and head to new places and wander around. Even if I'm shakin' in my bones the whole time I try my best.
Oh, and the food. Did I ever tell you my mother is a tremendous cook?! Seriously so lucky to grow up in that household if not for anything else the food. Shes fantastic! I really miss certain things that she used to make that mine albeit delicious don't have her signature on them and as most of you know you can hand out a simple 6 ingredient recipe and it will come back to you tasting and looking different than the next. I miss her beef stew and her cheesecake tarts that she makes at christmas. I miss her corn chowder, I've used that recipe many times and it never tastes the same even if I follow it to a tee. I have that whimsical nature about creating my own spin on or even creating my own recipes from ideas that pop into my head like she does and for that my family is extremely grateful lol.
They are both terrific gardeners. I can't have a garden like we did back home but they really know what they're doing and we're still figuring it out lol. Especially the tomatoes my dad and his dad before him tomato geniuses. I'm working on it. I miss walking to a garden anytime and picking some carrots or peas to snack on now they have raspberry bushes everywhere I miss grabbing an ice cream bucket filling it and using it on cakes or just a Saturday afternoon snack for the fam. And when the corn grows like my dad would like it to lol it's always sweet and delicious. Actually Southern Alberta is known for their corn we actually have festivals based on corn harvest yum.
I feel privileged to be who I am today and know that it was based on their examples to me and some hard work of my own. I hope that someday my own children will look back on their lives with those special moments and reminisce about their good ole days and hopefully they've learned something from me as well that they can continue to teach their children.
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