Having only been in this new year for 43 days and counting, I can’t even begin to express the joy and love my heart feels in certain moments I have been able to encounter. I know many of us have felt like we may be at our darkest moment and there are others who know nothing other than joy all the time. I am truly proud to say that in these past 43 days, I feel blessed with the people I have been able to have in my life.
Sometimes it’s hard for us to believe that there are good people out there that truly do care for others. I honestly was starting to think that they didn’t exist; especially in men. But I have never been proven more wrong than I have in the past 4 weeks. I have been truly blessed and honored to have had this man in my life. It all started a year ago when I was raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I heard about him. So I went and met him and right from that moment of meeting him, he had this aura about him. Positive, uplifting and loving. I knew right from that moment I wanted to be around him. Here we almost a year later, and I can honestly say that almost every exciting and happy moment I had in my life since meeting him, he had something to do with whether he knows it or not.
When you meet someone so humble and so loving, it’s contagious. It makes you want to do better without even thinking twice about it. For the longest time, when I would tell people I was just “a teacher”, I never really stopped and realized what I was doing for a living. It wasn’t until this past year, that it hit me. I am making a difference, whether I see it or not. Just like this man, I am now lucky enough to have in my life. He is making a difference whether he knows it or not. And he is an inspiration to all who come in contact with him to make a difference.
I read this story to my kids today. We talk about good deeds and why we should do things without expecting anything in return. Some got what the message was and others I hope will remember it (they are only 11 and 12). But the reason I told it to them, is because if I could get one of them to realize that it only takes just one single act of kindness to touch someone’s life, then my job is done.
And here it is for the rest of us to keep as a reminder~ there are good people (or in my eyes he is great), people do care, and remember even the smallest act can change someone’s day.
Story told by: Edward Brady
” I want to share a story from earlier today that I have not been able to shake. I went to a credit union earlier today and I was leaving and getting into my car I watched an older woman struggling to get on the sidewalk to enter the bank with her walker and handbag..simultaneously I also watched another gentleman in a hurry walk out of the bank door past the woman with the walker as he quickly scattered to his car and drove off unaware of his surroundings…I quickly closed my car door and headed towards the woman…as I approached her I smiled and opened both bank doors for her…She said “did you forget something sonny”…I said “no”…she responded with “thank you…you’re a very nice young boy I wouldn’t have been able to open those by myself…have a good day and be safe.” I smiled….partially because I was called a “nice young boy” at 28, secondly because every time I end a conversation with my mother she says be careful and be safe….but mostly wherever I was going at that moment or the million things that were on my mind…for that brief second I had no worries…no problems…just a moment…I slowly walked back to my car with a smile on my face…Our lives are very busy and we often let the little things pass us by….the little things can end up adding up to be the most meaningful. Twenty minutes later I logged onto my online banking account to pay the bill I made the deposit for at the bank…I noticed there was an additional $25 dollars in my account….I called the bank to ask about the deposit because I did not make it…my teller told me that the older woman deposited her coins into my account. I told her please put it back into her account and that I could not accept her money and that I didn’t even know her….the teller told me she could not reverse the transaction because the older woman does not have an account, that was the first time they had seen her in the bank and she was simply there to cash in her wrapped coins. I was left on the phone speechless.”
“In the end, it’s not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away”
Happy Tuesday!
xo
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