This is what the whole gang photo looks like when one of the party excels at Photo Shop! That is not me!!!
I just spent the weekend in Kansas City. I stayed with Vickie Smith, of course, but this time we mostly went our separate ways. I had determined when Elizabeth and I made our very quick trip in early September for a Royal’s game that the next time I traveled south I would stay and actually make time for some friends that I seldom get the chance to see.
That chance came when my KC Book Club friends, Fallen Apples, as they refer to themselves, planned a long overdue meeting in the beautiful Kansas countryside south of the city. Voila! I made appointments for lunches and dinners and hopped in the car!
When I first started writing this my focus centered on the generosity of my good friend, Vickie Smith. She opens her home and her wine cabinet. She makes me dinner and gives me her garage door opener so I can come and go. She loans me T-shirts, a mustard colored on for the No-Kings rally, not owning any yellow ones herself. And a Sporting KC T-shirt for the soccer game Brooke and Bill took me to later.
All physical examples of generosity, but she is also generous with her heart. That’s the most important thing isn’t it?
But then my mind did a blanket sweep of all the friends I am lucky to have gathered in my life on this planet. The precious people I met with on my trip flowed into the precious women who are “forcing” me to celebrate my birthday with them! 😉 They know I love them!
I easily recall all of the many gestures of generosity I have received in the recent and distant past. I am grateful. I am.
With all the less-than-generous shenanigans our current administration is forcing upon our fellow citizens It is necessary and comforting to recognize the good in us. To look for it and acknowledge it when we see it. To share the love we feel- even for those who disagree with us.
At the No Kings rally on Saturday (I went to the one at the Johnson County Community College Campus) I witnessed palpable joy in the faces of those in attendance. There were signs, some a little mean, but most clever and cheery. There was comradery, smiling, recognizing similar spirits. And in a way a generosity of mind and consciousness. And a whole lot of honking!
I am grateful for that as well.
In all of these instances it is the story-telling, the life revealing, the highs and the lows, the hopes, the lessons learned, that I find most generous. That one person trusts another to reveal what is very personal to them and that another person is generous enough to listen or console and to keep that revelation close in their hearts. I think this also goes by the name of friendship, but aren’t good friendships just pods of generosity?
We all have so many opportunities to be generous. It doesn’t take money or gifts or anything you can hold in your hand. It just takes just some thought and a good cup of coffee or a nice sparkling wine, and some time to just sit together and be present.
Oh yes, and a sprinkling of good humor and laughter!