Generosity and Gratitude

It's November.... 

It seems hard to believe that autumn has come and delivered the most glorious displays of fall color that I have ever seen.  Truly.  Perhaps I have seen them before - bright oranges, yellows, firey reds... but this season, I experienced them.  I saw them with delight and surprise.  I pointed them out to Zoey.  She pointed them out to me.  "Look at that one!" "Sooo pretty!"

That and autumn has seemed to rush on through....  School days, playdates, lunches, coffee talks with friends...  Working, volunteering...  Family trips, anniversaries, milestones, birthdays, and Halloween... I didn't post a single thing in October.  And here it is November...

This morning I wrote a thank you note to a man and his son for contributing to the fundraiser I started last year.  This year we spent September raising funds to put shoes on kids' feet here in this county.  This man, a dentist, was told about the program by one of our members and he said he'd think about a donation.  That night he went home and his teenage son asked about getting a new pair of shoes for cross country.  The dentist told his son that if he was willing to put $60 of his own money towards the shoes, he'd donate it to our cause and buy the kid his shoes.  He did.

Now, I don't know this man or his son...  but I must say it was so nice to get that $60 check in the mail.  See, $60 is worth two shoe tags - two pairs of shoes for two kids.  That teen - that dentist's son, who probably doesn't have a monetary need in this world, had a conversation with his dad about giving.  That's where it all starts... a conversation.  My hope is that this young kid will grow up with a place in his heart that is compassionate... not just because he gave $60 toward his own cross country shoes... but because he was given the chance to think about someone else. 

And that's where I'll start this month of gratitude...  I'm thankful for the opportunity to get out in our community and talk with people.  It's not about raising money or even helping out people... For me, it's creating a conversation - this time it happened to be about generosity straight up.  Usually, it's much more basic than that.