Good Will Find You: A Story about the gift love brings.
- Merry Sorrells
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
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Kim and I were practically kids when we were married and started our family. Our first daughter Jenn, was born when I was 22, and Kim was 24. We lived far away from our family in Florida, where Kim had a job that didn’t pay well and required very long hours. He often left our apartment before sunrise and returned long after sunset.
We shared our one car, a yellow Ford Pinto, and didn’t have two extra cents to rub together. Our date nights were often spent strolling in the mall, with Jenn in a buggy, sharing an ice cream cone, and people watching. Because I was home without a car and wanted to spend as much waking time as I could with Kim, I would often do my grocery shopping and visit the laundromat late at night.
The fun part of living in Sarasota, Florida, is that it was the home of the Ringling Brother’s Clown College. So, my late nights of doing laundry were often punctuated by young men and women sporting red noses and practicing their juggling while waiting for their laundry to finish.
Every now and then, however, loneliness would overcome me. The days were long and hot, and I spent hours on my own with a baby. One night, I headed to our all-night grocery store around midnight. I was feeling quite sorry for myself. There is no other place as lonely as the grocery. An overwhelming sense of sadness and self-pity dominated my thinking, and I didn’t know where to turn.
The store was empty of people, and I pushed my cart in solitude with tears quietly streaking down my cheeks. I was startled when a young stock boy approached me with a bouquet of flowers from the produce section. He handed them to me and said, “Here, you look like you need these tonight.”
He disappeared as quickly as he came, going back to his post. I have never forgotten those flowers and that loving gesture. That expression of kindness reminded me that we can always rely on good to find us when we need it. That young man must have been taught kindness as a value. He was sensitive to the needs of others and put that sensitivity into action. I have returned to that loving act many times over the years, warmed by the knowledge that good has a way of reaching us through others when we most need it. I am reminded to look for opportunities to give to others in the same way.
The other part of sharing love and being kind to others is the warmth it brings to our own hearts. I imagine that the smile and surprise that lit up my face in the grocery store that night left the stock boy smiling as well. It costs so little to find opportunities to give.
In addition to giving our children our love, we are teaching them to be kind and generous as they live their lives. As parents and grandparents, and even as school administrators and teachers, we instill in them the desire to treat each other with kindness and respect. We help them see themselves as agents for good in this world. Service starts at home and should be lived every day at school.
As adults, we need to model that behavior for them. We need to be that boy with a bouquet of flowers brightening the world of someone in need. The “flowers” will fade, but the gift of love will live on. That is our charge and our responsibility, to live love for all our children to see. In turn, they will continue to bring wonderful gifts and bless this world.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Until next time,
Merry
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