stopped in the street
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
“We saw you in the paper,” the dental nurses enthused when we descended upon them for the children’s annual check (one more item checked off the To Do List).
Walking home afterwards we stopped to chat with a friend (that’s one of the nice things about walking instead of taking a car). As we talked, another local lady walked by and halted long enough to ask if we had seen our piece on tv – we hadn’t. Who knows what that was about? (hopefully it wasn’t based too closely on the newspaper article – our friends have been playing *Spot The Mistake* with that 😉 )
We turned the final corner…….a runner approached, slowed and then stopped. She smilingly panted, “Are you the family in the paper? What you’re doing is amazing – what an experience for your kids. They’ll never forget it. I could never do it, but wow. Good on you.”
At the afternoon visit to the Medical Centre (to arrange immunity-checking-blood tests) conversation turned again to the paper, “We’ve got your picture up in our staffroom”!!
Cross the road and down to the butcher where we were greeted by the ever-friendly assistant, “Hi Famous Lady”.
I flashed her a smile and we all engaged in more-than-polite-conversation. I don’t want to be famous. I just want to do my job well, brighten the day of those I come across, inspire my children and live intentionally. Sure, we’re doing something a bit out of the ordinary…..but that’s just us.
We may not want fame (well, OK, let’s be honest – the kids think that bit’s great, even if it is just in our wee corner of the world), but we do want to use our opportunities to heap as much good on others as we can. And if our smiling picture will put the gift of literacy into the hands of a child in Laos who otherwise would not have had access to a future outside of dire poverty, then I’ll smile all day long.
rayres