The Power of Kindness
Barb Groth, a beloved neighbor, now passed, used to leave bags hanging on door knobs around our tiny berg of Bow. Summer brought zucchinis, some hilariously huge ones, and winter brought hand knitted bootie socks in just the right size lovingly crafted by hers truly. The pastor and congregants of Bow Church of Christ loaded Barb up with loaves of bread to hang on door knobs of homes where children lived. She knew who they were. As the years passed, her hip hitched her walk, slowed her down, but the gifts kept coming until the day she died.
Each fall, neighbors implore me to come gather honey crisp, transparent and crab apples, pears, walnuts, filberts, and plums. Blackberries clump tenderly perfectly lush and ready to eat in so many places that we who gather could never pick them all. In winter blackberry jam and frozen berries bring back the sweet scent of summer.
Kindness bewitches my heart. My first realization of how much kindness and the sharing it generates means to me was at a Chicago Transit Authority bus stop in February of 1973. I was fifteen, a runaway in hiding, hard up on cash and dreaming of a real winter coat. At the bus stop. Waiting. Unaware of the brutality of winter in Chicago.
I’d lied my way into a job as a waitress pretending to be years older and was headed there my first day of work. It was Sunday and stores were closed. Standing at that bus stop, in that moment, I felt what a wind chill factor of 30 below means, felt it in a thin coat on a dark afternoon, felt it with no bus in sight. It felt like the end.
Hope fled my heart as no bus appeared on the horizon and each second seemed an hour of frozen torment. Truly, I’d given up when I felt a tap on my right shoulder. Looking there I saw nothing! Then magically over my left shoulder appeared the most beautiful long stem red rose in creation! That lush bloom teased my frigid nose with delicious scent. Taking that long stem into my cold hand, I turned to see where it had come from. There was not a soul in sight.
Turning back again to Lincoln Avenue my heart leaped as the bus pulled up and I rejoined the living, glad of heart, holding the world’s most beautiful rose.
Abundance. It’s all around us here in Skagit’s amazing valley. True sharing comes from the heart. Compassionate and respectful sharing is an act of kindness that enriches all engaged. Love is the path to true riches, the riches of the heart!
Peace to all, good people.
Kate Bowers
Skagit Yoga & Neurotherapy
Barb Groth, a beloved neighbor, now passed, used to leave bags hanging on door knobs around our tiny berg of Bow. Summer brought zucchinis, some hilariously huge ones, and winter brought hand knitted bootie socks in just the right size lovingly crafted by hers truly. The pastor and congregants of Bow Church of Christ loaded Barb up with loaves of bread to hang on door knobs of homes where children lived. She knew who they were. As the years passed, her hip hitched her walk, slowed her down, but the gifts kept coming until the day she died.
Each fall, neighbors implore me to come gather honey crisp, transparent and crab apples, pears, walnuts, filberts, and plums. Blackberries clump tenderly perfectly lush and ready to eat in so many places that we who gather could never pick them all. In winter blackberry jam and frozen berries bring back the sweet scent of summer.
Kindness bewitches my heart. My first realization of how much kindness and the sharing it generates means to me was at a Chicago Transit Authority bus stop in February of 1973. I was fifteen, a runaway in hiding, hard up on cash and dreaming of a real winter coat. At the bus stop. Waiting. Unaware of the brutality of winter in Chicago.
I’d lied my way into a job as a waitress pretending to be years older and was headed there my first day of work. It was Sunday and stores were closed. Standing at that bus stop, in that moment, I felt what a wind chill factor of 30 below means, felt it in a thin coat on a dark afternoon, felt it with no bus in sight. It felt like the end.
Hope fled my heart as no bus appeared on the horizon and each second seemed an hour of frozen torment. Truly, I’d given up when I felt a tap on my right shoulder. Looking there I saw nothing! Then magically over my left shoulder appeared the most beautiful long stem red rose in creation! That lush bloom teased my frigid nose with delicious scent. Taking that long stem into my cold hand, I turned to see where it had come from. There was not a soul in sight.
Turning back again to Lincoln Avenue my heart leaped as the bus pulled up and I rejoined the living, glad of heart, holding the world’s most beautiful rose.
Abundance. It’s all around us here in Skagit’s amazing valley. True sharing comes from the heart. Compassionate and respectful sharing is an act of kindness that enriches all engaged. Love is the path to true riches, the riches of the heart!
Peace to all, good people.
Kate Bowers
Skagit Yoga & Neurotherapy
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