The Kindness of a Listen

“The first duty of love is to listen.”

̴ Paul Tillich

Sometimes all we need is a listen.  We don’t need someone to fix something; we don’t need an opinion.  We just need someone to listen.  And if we are fortunate to find someone to listen at the precise moment where that need becomes critical, we are blessed.

The Kindness of a Child's Thoughtfulness

"Give back in some way.  Always be thoughtful of others."
~ Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Recently, I was sitting at a restaurant with a group of children and another mother.  It was getting late in the evening and although we had finished our meal, we were sitting having a nice chat.  At one point, one of the children -- a nine-year-old boy -- said, "Do you think we should go so that someone else can have our table?"  And, as we left, I noticed that there were a number of people waiting for tables.

The Kindness of Ironing

"The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness."
~ Victor Hugo

When I recently stayed at a college friend's apartment in another city, I asked her if I could hang up what I would be wearing to a business meeting the next day.  I was hoping that the creases in my jacket caused by suitcase travel would miraculously disappear if I hung it up.  My friend offered to iron it for me.  Absolutely not, I said.  The next morning as she left for work, my friend told me that she had ironed my jacket.  Just today, I saw the same jacket and remembered my friend's very thoughtful kindness.

The Kindness of Emails that Make You Laugh -- Out Loud

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people."
~ Victor Borge

I don't mean the kind of chain emails that you receive and don't know what to do with.  I mean the kind of email that you receive from your friend who is now on the other side of the world, but who can still make you laugh out loud with a snippet of funny conversation.  And for a moment, lost in the laughter, you forget how far away she is. 

Parking Lot Kindness

"Because that's what kindness is.  It's not doing something for someone else because they can't, but because you can."
~Andrew Iskander

At a strip mall parking lot, I saw a woman in a van with several children try unsuccessfully to back out of a parking space -- twice.  A car had parked horizontally across a store front and was too close for her to be able to get out.  Another mother in the car next to her saw what was happening, got out of her car and asked the person in the car that was blocking the other woman if she would move her car a few yards.  The other car moved and the woman in the van was able to leave.

The Kindness of a Gift of Earrings

"Kind people are the best kind of people."
~ Author unknown

About a year ago during a family road trip, I found a pair of very inexpensive costume jewelry earrings with which I fell in love.  Small and round with white enamel and gold (faux, of course), they were my go-to comfortable earrings that I wore on a daily basis.  Which is what I did until I lost one.  I was disappointed and looked on line to see if I might find them.  I did find a pair that came close, but at more than 100 times what I paid for my roadside find, that set did not have the same appeal.  I shared a photo of my one remaining earring with two of my closest mom friends, so that they would be on the lookout for something similar.  They looked, I looked... but nothing.  And then on the way back from this summer's road trip, I found them again and bought the one and only pair at the store.  I dashed off a text with a photo to my two mom friends who had been in on my search.  A couple of days ago, one of the two moms gave me a pair of earrings that are just like the white ones but in turquoise.  Of course, I love them and am wearing them as I write.  And whenever I remember that I have them on, I smile at her thoughtfulness.

Tender Kindness

"Paradise was made for tender hearts..."
~Voltaire

At Mass recently, I saw a couple sitting toward the front of the church.  I would not think of them as elderly, but they have been married for more than 50 years.  Both highly intelligent and hard working, they managed to raise a brood of children, all of whom now have beautiful families of their own.  The husband is not as strong as he once was and remained seated through most of the Mass.  At one point during the service, I saw the wife gently rest her head on his shoulder.  And when they stood up and began walking to the front of the church for Communion, the wife adjusted his sweater from the back.