A Long Day, An Abundance of Kindness

"Abundance is not something we acquire.  It is something we tune into."
― Wayne Dyer

Today has been a long day...  I woke up at 3 am in another state and caught a flight back home just in time to finish preparing for an important family celebration tomorrow.  Earlier this week, I was not sure how it would all work out.  And then today, a funny thing happened:  an abundance of kindness came my way. 

It began before dawn with a cashier at the airport who could not have been friendlier.  When I asked him where the tip box was, he said his boss did not allow tips.  When I boarded the plane, before I could even pick up my bag to load it into the overhead compartment, another passenger -- a middle-aged guy with long white hair -- asked me if he could help me with it.  He stowed the bag for me and I never saw him again.

Once home, I hurried to catch the tail end of Mass at my son's school as well as a school photo sale.  Two friends of mine, who made it to the sale before me, saw photos of my son and bought them for me.

Another friend woke up hours earlier than usual on her day off to take one of my children to school.  My mother changed and juggled important appointments and meetings to run around and help with my errands.

One of the things that I realized I had forgotten to do was to get additional parking permits for our street.  They usually take 24 hours.  When I called the police department, the woman who answered told me I could still get them.  And then when I arrived, she issued them immediately so that I would not have to return to pick them up and she gave me more than is usually permitted.

My quintessential move-a-body friend e-mailed me to say that he could pick me up for lunch.  When I told him my crazy errand schedule would not allow such a fun thing, he talked to me for a while, made me laugh and shrugged off the most recent favor he has done for me.

A childhood friend flew in from the other side of the country to be with us.  And a dear friend who had to go out of town and can't join us texted me several times to see how the preparations were coming along.

This afternoon, a beautiful box arrived with cupcakes from a famous (and favorite) cupcake store in another part of the country, courtesy of thoughtful friends. 

 

One of the guys at the bank gave me a beautiful red rose for Mothers' Day.  And after a change in children's plans coupled with too much to do forced me to cancel the all-too-rare manicure appointment, the manicurist called to say that she could see me at 8 pm -- a time when she is usually happily home.

Sometimes it seems as though the universe conspires against us and everything that can go wrong will.  And then there are other days -- like today -- when even in the midst of a somewhat stressful, hurry scurry day, there is so much kindness to enjoy.