I have even done such things as call him a weirdo when he does things like take our leftover and oh-so-yummy fried shrimp to our pals working late at the bait shop or when he took a bottle of water over to our neighbor who was sweating his ass off doing yard work the other day. Never mind the fact that I had been refilling and drinking out of that exact water bottle for three weeks... I only hope that our neighbor didn't go back into his pregnant wife with my sparkly lip stuff on his mouth.
Anywho... I have no idea why, but I am just generally uncomfortable with these unsolicited acts of kindness. But people LOVE Lane because he does these sorts of things. And I mean LOVE him. I think that they overlook the fact that they are getting someone else's crusty water bottle because it's just such a nice gesture and so unexpected and rare. And Lane always says that it doesn't cost anything and it only takes a few seconds to make a big difference to someone, so why not?
I have really tried to follow this philosophy, because I do whole-heartedly agree with it, but for me it doesn't come as naturally... Case-in-point happened the other day...
As I have mentioned, I walk my precious baby Baron every morning. When we are out is usually about the time that all the neighborhood kids are walking to the front of the neighborhood to catch the bus. Every single morning I am amazed that none of these skinny jean, Converse-wearing douches will look me in the eye or say good morning or even ACKNOWLEDGE my presence at all. They all shuffle their feet and swish their bangs and stay plugged into their i-pods, looking straight down at the ground as we pass each other on the sidewalk. And every morning I think, "how will these idiots ever make it in the world?"... Well, every kid except one of them ignores me.
My next door neighbor's son is friends with a kid who gets dropped off by his grandmother at the asscrack of dawn so that he can catch the bus from our neighborhood - I don't know it to be a fact, but I can only assume that it would have something to do with going to school in a better district?... Anyway, he gets dropped off at the neighborhood entrance, walks to my neighbor's house, walks back to the entrance of the neighborhood to catch the bus, walks back after school, and then gets picked up around 6:30 p.m. It's gotta be a long day for the poor kid. He doesn't roll out of bed and saunter to the bus. He gets up early and commutes. And he doesn't carry an i-pod, he carries a Ziploc bag of cereal and eats it on the walk. And he is the ONLY one who looks me in the eye and smiles and says, "Good Morning!" every we pass each other, without fail. In a skinny jean, no eye-contact-making kind of world, this kid really stands out to me.
Until the other afternoon our little exchanges have never gone beyond "good morning". I don't even know the kid's name. I was outside putting up our American flag for Memorial Day when I saw the kid's grandmother pull up to pick him up. As soon as I saw him I thought about how proud I would be of him if that was my son or grandson. Then I thought that I should tell his grandmother how much of a difference he makes in my mornings. But I thought twice because then I would be the weirdo!!! And then I heard that little voice in my head - it doesn't cost anything, it only takes a few seconds, and it could make a big difference to someone... So, despite my natural inclination to be super uncomfortable, I sucked it up and ran over to the car before they pulled away.
I walked over to the passenger side where the kid was sitting and looked through to the woman driving. I said, "Is this your son?" (At this point I didn't know she was the Grandmother.) Both the woman and the kid looked at me like deer caught in the headlights. They were so taken aback it was almost comical. Then she cut her eyes and the kid and looked back at me and said very cautiously, "he's my grandson..." And the kid shifted nervously in his seat, like I was about to say something that would get him grounded until he was 47. I said, "Well I want you to know that I walk my dog every morning and pass about twenty kids in this neighborhood and your grandson is the only one that says good morning. It really means so much to me and I just thought you should know."
By the time I was done talking I thought the woman's teeth might pop out of her head she was smiling so big. She said, "Oh really?! Thank you!" and I looked back at the kid and he was half-smiling, half awestruck. I told them to have a good night and they were on their way.
Every morning since then this sweet kid smiles the biggest smile and really puts extra effort into his "good morning", like we are best of friends. And I will never forget the look on that proud grandmother's face. I know what I said made a difference to both of them. And guess what? It took two seconds of my life and it cost me nothing. Not only did it cost me nothing, I got something from it... and that was the satisfaction of knowing that (although it IS my specialty) not everything that comes out of my mouth has to be a smart ass, dripping with sarcasm type of comment. Albeit rare, sometimes I can just be nice. And it's worth it. Even if it makes me a weirdo.
