Just before Thanksgiving I received a lovely gift. A little background---many years ago I lived in Hawaii for about 5 years with my children and husband who was a Marine pilot. It was Vietnam era and when he went overseas for yet another year tour, the children and I moved off the military base and into a civilian neighborhood. During that year we lived across the street from a lovely family whose children attended the same elementary school as my daughter. We carpooled for that year and so I saw the neighbor children daily. The 8th grade neighbor girl,Susu, also baby sat for my children on the rare occassion I went to a movie or dinner with friends. I corresponded with Susu's parents for several years but lost touch in our many moves.
Well, last week Susu looked us up on the internet. I am not certain how she did it but she located my son who is now an active duty Marine himself. She reminisced about the year we were neighbors and she wrote of her memories of my daughter who was killed in a traffic accident several years later.She even remembered how to spell my daughter's unusual name.
Since very few people in my life here in Vermont knew my daughter, I do not have many conversations about her. Of course she is in my thoughts and prayers daily so to have this woman from our past take the time to find us, to "talk' about some wonderful times and to send her love was an incredible gift.
As this season of Christmas is coming, possibly the most grace filled gift you can give is to search for someone from your past and to tell them how important they were or are in your life. No money required. No Black Friday crowds. Just love.
Blessings-Penny
No comments:
Post a Comment