A couple years after my husband died, I had the good fortune to assist at a pre-school. As stated before, I heal better around children. It was a wonderful experience - the woman that ran the school was great with kids; and those little 4-year-olds were just what I needed.
I am a born nurturer, and I gravitated towards the handful of children that were having difficulty leaving Mom and Dad for the day. We had one little boy and one little girl that were too shy to talk until the fourth month. There was another little boy who was extremely sensitive. He was never ready to interact with the other children until he sat real close to me for about half an hour.
I have so many memories that I cherish from that year - and some lasting friendships. There was one little boy whose faithfulness matches only one person I have known before. I had a friend when I lived in Toronto - she's gone now - but whenever I think of her, it is her faithfulness that stands out to me. She was the most faithful friend I ever had; I still miss her presence in my life. This little boy is like that - his whole being just oozes faithfulness. He is in grade 3 now - and still makes me a part of his life - even though he has moved on. Do you know how rare faithfulness like that is in the grown-up world?
Last night he called me to get my address - he must be going to make me a Christmas card. We talked for about half an hour. It was a delighful surprise that really added a lot of magic to my
"one step at a time" approach to Christmas.
My son is a faithful person as well. I remember the year he spent Christmas with a woman he was dating, and her two children. I never once felt left out even though I spent Christmas alone that year. Every time he went shopping for gifts, he called home and told me of his purchases. I felt as much a part of their Christmas as if I was really there. I was in touch with his excitement and anticipation every step of the way.
I opened my gifts - one a day the week leading up to Christmas - so that I would not feel lonely on Christmas morning. Then I treated myself to music "that soothes the soul" on Christmas morning. I went to my sister's for Christmas dinner that year - one of the benefits of belonging to a large family - there's always somebody to make room for you at the dinner table.
The world is made richer by the rare person who knows how to be faithful to the people in their world, while going about the business of living. If you have one of these rare jewels on your list of friends and family - treasure them, watch them, learn from them. You'll never be sorry that you did!
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