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| Not original snow children |
One heart warming tale, The Snow Children, written by boating friend, Keith White, arrived via e-mail. I can't erase it from my thoughts.
It's a true story, a good news story. It demonstrates that, even in the midst of a snowy, rainy, cold, and bleak winter, gifts of kindness lurk. The unexpected gifts promise to put sunshine into a dreay day, warm the heart, and sustain thesoul.
White wrote in February that it had snowed several times in one week. One of the snowfalls resulted in a "very nice and unexpected experience." That snowy day brought a serendipitous message of hope the day that The Snow Children arrived on his doorstep. White turned the experience into the following story.
"Wednesday night it snowed about four inches. The snow was wet and heavy. About mid-morning I looked out of the upstairs bedroom window and saw what I thought was two girls shoveling snow in the driveway," the story opened..
White had not heard anyone ring the doorbell so he went downstairs and said to his wife, Mary, "There are two young girls shoveling snow in our driveway." She replied that she had called for the man to come and plow the driveway and that he would arrive very soon. She didn't know anything about the children outside shoveling.
White returned upstairs. When he looked out again the plowman had arrived and was in the process of clearing the snow away. The two young people stood to one side and watched the plowman as he finished.
To White's amazement the two snow children started back to work and began clearing away small ridges of snow that the edges of the plow left behind. They then began and shoveling the path to the front door.
"I was now sure that the bigger of the two young people was a girl. Her face was pink from being in the cold and the wind. Her long black hair was blowing out behind as the hood of her anorak had fallen back," he wrote.
He continued, "I then noticed the smaller of two was a boy. He was wearing one of those hats that came down over his ears. I thought they might be brother and sister."
Puzzled, White still didn't know what to make of all of this. Why had they come? Should he go down and pay them? He thought he should, and so he did.
"I went down and opened the garage door and held out some money for the girl.
She grinned and shook her hand back and forth indicating it wasn't necessary. She walked over, "No," she said, "There is nothing to pay." "She then handed me a card, the size of a business card. This is what it read,"You are the recipient of one of
80 Acts of Kindness
In celebration of the 80th birthday
Of our incredible Pop Pop
Let your kindness flow
And pass it on.
Smiling and overwhelmed by the surprise, White asked the children for their names. "Carter and Hayley," the girl replied. He asked where they lived. The snow children said, "Two houses down, the one with the green roof." "The one with the dogs," Whitee asked? "Yes," the girl nodded affirmatively and grinned.
With card in hand, White said that he went back inside feeling quite emotional. "It seemed like something of a revelation to discover, or rediscover people, families like that still existed in this world of greed, extreme fundamentalists, iPods, apps, stuff and corruption."
I could almost hear White's fading British accent in his words, "All day I warmed myself with this unexpected experience and now I have filed it away with some of my other best thoughts to take out when I need it. So all the snowy days were not for naught after all."
I too was warmed by the story of two very special snow children, the parents who are teaching them and their incredible Pop Pop celebrating his 80th birthday. What a special gift.
White followed the story with a report that weather has improved at last. "I'm waiting for the ice to melt on the docks, and in the cockpit, so I can work on the boat." White's boat, Rose, shares a summer dock with Imagine in Galena, MD.
He finishes his e-mail missive by sharing his next boat project. He calls it his "joyful project plan."
"I'm going to decorate each of the lockers in which my cutlery, plates, glasses, etc are kept. They will be my "Impressionist Lockers". Each will have an impressionist painting at the back, varnished over, a sexy surrounding background color to blend with the painting, say lilac, and a deep velvety color for the shelf, say plum," he continues.
"There will be a Renoir locker, one for Degas, one for Gaughin, one for Modigliani, even though he came later. And so on. Not visible, only when you go to find a wine glass or an espresso cup; silly idea really, but fun to do after the must do jobs."
White, who is in his seventh decade possesses an upbeat and can do attitude even after losing an arm to cancer several years ago. This dynamo of a man does more with his remaining arm than most people will ever do with two.
My friend's e-mail is one that I will keep. So many lessons of life are contained within. Make life easier with a random act of kindness, pay it forward, take time to play, find a silly project, have fun, don't let adversity get you down, enjoy life.
And finally, when the winter seems unending, gray and overcast, look for the snow children.
