Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The meet...

Well...

We set out early that Saturday morning...the meeting time and place had been arranged.

My truck, loaded with all the "extra" christmas decorations I had "collected" over the years. Ladies, let me just say one thing....

If you haven't used it in 12 months, it's ready for disposal, for sure. Most of these things I had purchased over the years, or they had been given to me and I just didn't have the need for them, so, instead of giving it away, I had stored it...F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

We arrived at the meeting place, all but one family had shown up. This one family left word with the contact person that if I could deliver it she would greatly appreciate it because she was unable to meet with us.

So, the kids and I delivered the final load to this family of 6, mom and 5 kids under the age of 10. They were living in a 3 bedroom home with tattered furnishings. The youngest, around the age of 2, just able to speak clear sentences.

One of the boxes contained a lighted snowman. When the child laid eyes on the snowman her face lit up like she'd just seen Santa! She asked my son if he really was giving it to her.

She ended up taking him by the hand and down the small hallway to the bedroom she shared with her two sisters. Tucked in one corner of the room, was the small toddler bed she slept on and beside it a small table. My son plugged the little snowman in and showed her how to turn the little button on the cord so that it would turn on/off.

A few moments later, as we were leaving this small home the little girl stops my son at the door and hugs him and thanks him for bringing her a snowman for Christmas.

I think at that moment...my son finally understood what it's like...for a child of circumstance...

For the first few moments after we departed that home, it was "drop dead" silent in that truck.

I hope that my kids never forget that day, and that they are always looking at life in "real-time 3-D" instead of "through a tunnel".

And as my daughter and son always hear:

"Life is a road filled with many decisions, and the only person who can decide the kind of person you are to be, is you. Never make a decision without weighing all the rewards, as well as the consequences."

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