Pebbles on the Pond

Oh, the best laid plans...

Today is scheduled to be Day Six of Highlowaha's Virtual Baby Shower.  The assigned topic... resources all new moms should know about (books, websites, available discounts and coupons, etc....). I also intended to share thumbprint pictures and share some Super Bowl fun.

If it's o.k., we'll take a rain check.  I have something I want to write about that is more timely and dare I say, more important.  Check in tomorrow if you are interested in some Super Bowl Fun.

"Throw a pebble into a pond and watch the ripples it creates.  Kindness spreads in a similar fashion.  A kind act can be a catalyst.  It can reach beyond those directly involved.  Who can say how far the ripples from one simple act of kindness may spread?"  Author Unknown.

Yesterday I dropped the boys at their preschool and then, in typical fashion, headed to Starbucks to do some reading.  My head was buried in a book when someone standing over me said, "Hi, Claudia.  We have to stop meeting this way."  In front of me was a woman I met two weeks ago at the Potato Soup party that I posted about last Saturday.  She just purchased herself a coffee, so I invited her to join me for a while.  Forty minutes later we had covered a lot of ground - kids, husbands, career choices, and more.  By the end of our conversation, I really felt like I made a new friend.  It was, perhaps, the most uplifting 40 minutes of my entire week.  I can't say for sure, but I think Leanne might say the same thing.  Misty's simple act of inviting me to her Soup party allowed me to meet Leanne and two weeks later there was a ripple.

I arrived home from Starbucks to begin sifting through my emails before meeting a friend for lunch.    A highlowaha reader emailed me to say thank you for sending her her winnings from Monday's Chinese New Year celebration.  Small as her winnings were, she told me she would feel better about spending the money if she used it on a random act of kindness.  Peggy uses one $5.00 pebble and creates the first of who knows how many ripples.

Lunch in Arlington with Heather and then it's back home to Grapevine.

I head to my mailbox after parking my car and stuffed inside my mailbox was a large envelope, addressed to ME, from an unfamiliar address in Dallas.  Inside the envelope are four books and a two-page letter that starts out, "Claudia, I feel a kindred spirit toward you..."  At the end she says, "Read what you wish and pass on the rest.  You can leave them at Starbucks."  I will most certainly read all four books and, because of her invitation, I intend to anonymously pass them along at Starbucks.  The most important nuggets of information I learn from reading the books I will pass along to you.  One package of books creates upwards of 5 ripples. 

Living Highlowaha's Spirit of #218 means making choices to sometimes be the pebble and sometimes be the ripple.  Do this for me this weekend, will you?  While you are out and about be on the search for a pebble or small rock.  Pick one up and either put it in your pocket or place it somewhere in your home where you will notice it daily.  When you place your hand in your pocket or notice it sitting on the counter, take a second to think about the last time you made a ripple.  Maybe you'll even decide to share your story with us.  

A final thought...  the idea of pebbles and ripples doesn't feel completely irrelevant to this week's baby shower theme.  Consider this.  What if the children we raise are to be considered pebbles on the pond.  What kind and how many ripples will they make?  

Signing off until tomorrow...

Rabbit, Rabbit...