Mighty Fine Folk Whose Names Begin with M

On this magnificent seventh day of my vacation I drove to the sixth state on my journey to visit with my dear friend Mary and her dog Roxy.  I packed a healthy picnic lunch which we ate in a park neither of us had visited in a town neither of us knew.  We met there because it was nearly half way for both of us, here in the Midwest.  Our dogs had a fine time playing, running about, sniffing everywhere, lying in the shade of huge, mature trees.  Mary and I realized we'd not seen one another in just over a year but it's as if no time had passed.  We concluded our visit with a cone of frozen custard for each of us and cups of vanilla with a small milk bone for each pup.  Lucky dogs!

On my forth day of vacation my father and I stopped in Upstate NY to experience the hospitality of my second cousin, my father's first cousin, Marion.  She provided a dinner al fresco in her back yard which backs up the farm on which she grew up in the town where my grandmother was born and reared before she ventured off to college in Michigan many a year ago.  Before we left the following morning, we visited the art center she has been instrumental in starting and fostering.  She supports local artists and encourages all to learn and grow through exposure to the arts.

So it is true that these two women are not strangers to me yet their kindnesses towards me are remarkable to me...  If I did not have the experiences of meaningful times with both I would be poorer.  And it is their kindnesses which foster my ability to think about ways to be kind to others.

I plan to take garlic from my parents' garden to Marion for her garden and I will.  We did take her this marvelous multi grain bread from a local bakery near my house.  She oooed and ahhhhed as her memory of this bread from Christmas time when I gave her 1/2 a loaf was of great goodness in the bread.  As I sat with Mary and the dogs on this 90 degree day, all of us licking our ice cream, a man walked up the street, waiting for his bus.  He was watching the dogs with a smile and I said "hello."  We had a brief, friendly conversation.  I intend to contribute to the art center my second cousin has supported all these years because I believe in the mission.  Maybe these actions will ripple outward to more strangers.  Who knows?  I write about these past days and some small acts of kindness as I continue to contemplate how to be deliberately kind daily whether to strangers or to those near and dear.