Sample post by Erin @ Two Thirds Hazel
It may be Tuesday to the world, but it's a hard and fast Monday to my brain and body. Coming back to real life from yet anotheramazing three day weekend in Charlotte (which I might recap a bit tomorrow) is hard stuff. That 4:30am wakeup call I had to set in order to make my 6:10am flight back to NYC this morning was even harder. And that means the blog is going to be taking a back seat today. Because taking a nap and drinking hot chocolate on this gloomy Manhattan morning while snuggling the little man might just need to take precedence. And by "might" I mean "abso-friggen-lutely".
But I did want to leave you all with a little story of my experience while heading down to Charlotte last week. It was an eye opener for me, so maybe it'll be one for you too. The following is what I jotted down in the airport last Friday:
"Life is so unbelievably fragile. I realize this more and more, every day, at the most unexpected of times.
Here I am, sitting contently in Terminal 34 at JFK with "Happy" by Pharrell blasting through my ear buds because I'm just that; really freaking happy. Yet a woman with puffy eyes as red as fresh-picked strawberries sits across from me. I noticed her disheveled look but went along my usual airport business in people watching, per usual. But then she receives one simple text. A text that causes her to scream an exhausted and heartbroken "noooo" as she falls to her knees and curls up in a ball on the floor of the airport. It was like her world had just ended right then and there. Everyone stares. I stare.
She continues to text some more, cry some more, shake her head some more. Yet nobody moves; they all just stare at her like you would a gorilla at the Bronx Zoo.
So I make a mad dash to the convenience corner, quickly shove two dollars in the lady's hand while I grab a pack of tissues, and run straight back to this poor woman before she boards her flight. As I hand them to her and offer a hug, she breaks down crying and whispers that her father had just passed away in that moment and she was trying desperately to make it back to him in time to see him once more. I tell her I'm so very sorry and she responds back thanking me for being a sweetheart. And now I sit here in tears myself, in the middle of JFK, because of this woman's unimaginable pain.
The lesson: a) to not stare at someone in disbelief because of their actions; you never know what story they may be living. In fact, why not offer a helping hand; you never know how greatly they may appreciate it. And b) to never ever take those you love for granted; you never know if you'll be sitting in an airport one day receiving that same text."
I hope it hits as hard for you as it did for me, and I hope you too can show kindness to someone in need. We'd be a better society for it if we all could take a step out of our own selfish happenings every once in awhile and learn the value in connecting with each other. I'm pretty bad at this, as I tend to isolate myself and not step outside of my own comfort filled boundaries, but I'm ready to keep trying. We're all living in the same world going through the same damn things after all, aren't we? You never need a reason to help someone and you never need an agenda to spread the love.
I hope it hits as hard for you as it did for me, and I hope you too can show kindness to someone in need. We'd be a better society for it if we all could take a step out of our own selfish happenings every once in awhile and learn the value in connecting with each other. I'm pretty bad at this, as I tend to isolate myself and not step outside of my own comfort filled boundaries, but I'm ready to keep trying. We're all living in the same world going through the same damn things after all, aren't we? You never need a reason to help someone and you never need an agenda to spread the love.
