This week we received a gift from a neighbor–homemade soap and homemade chevre (goat cheese), crackers, and jalapeño jelly. It was such a sweet and delicious surprise.
I was inspired to pass the kindness to someone else in my neighborhood. The houses are few and far between in this area, and we haven’t met too many of our neighbors.
However, I can relate to Irene when she wrote on today’s page 77: “Sometimes the hardest thing for me is reaching out to another person. I’m shy and introverted, and I am completely okay with my own company.”
But I’m going to do it. I made some monster cookie dough and put it in the freezer, but this week I will get it out, bake it, and go visit at least two of my neighbors.
As Irene reminded us, “Sometimes you have to ‘fake it till you make it.'”
During each day in the months of August and September, I am responding to a different word from Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini. Today’s word is Reach. A small group of people wanting to make the world a better place are reading and responding together. Join us! Visit Common Threads: Patchwork Prose and Verse by Kim Haynes Johnson for more information. Here is the word list I’ll be following for August and September.
Denise, the actions that this book is inspiring us to take to make changes right where we are is a balm to my soul. Your husband’s story about sharing breakfast with a sidewalk worker yesterday, and your story today of receiving a gift and planning to give one help me see the illustration of the circular acts of kindness that lead to others, that lead to others, that lead to others. I remember a time you reached across continents a year or so ago, to help children have a good start to the school year. I think you reach more often than you realize! I know you make a huge difference to others — that’s who you are!