I woke up with the thought that I wanted to do something intentional as my gift today. My meditation became, "Today I give with intention." I knew what I was going to do as soon as that meditation crossed my heart and mind. It was all about the smiles for me today.
Recently, a gentleman at the adult day center I volunteer at asked me, "Has anyone ever called you 'Perpetual?'"
I said, "No, they haven't. Why do you ask?"
He answered, "Because perpetual means always and you're always smiling. From now on, I'm going to call you 'Perpetual.'"
I work at a senior living facility specializing in memory impairment, Alzheimer's, and dementia. One of the residents asked me last week why I was always so chipper and smiling. I told her it was because I can usually always find something to smile about.
I've noticed that smiles go a long way. I try to smile as much as possible. It makes me happy and it makes the recipient happy. However, I wanted to be really intentional about my gift today and that's when I realized that I could be very intentional with my smiles. My gift is something I saw on Pinterest a while ago and is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Before heading off to spend the day with my grandfather and then going to work afterwards, I whipped up a sign to hang up at work.
When I picked up my grandfather for our day out, I showed him the sign and two of the tabs fell off. At first I was disappointed because the sign wasn't intact anymore. Then I thought that it would be great motivation for people to see that they could take a tab because "someone else did." When my grandfather and I went to the market for his groceries, I took the two tabs that had fallen off in to the store with me in case I saw someone that could use one. I put one in the crease of the door on the car next to me. The other one, I gave to an older woman on the other side of the gas pump when I was filling up my truck. She looked to be having some trouble figuring out how to use the pump so I went around and helped her, then handed her the smile tab, and said, "Here's a smile for you. When you're finished with it, pass it on to someone else that needs it." She gave me a big smile in return and said, "Thank you." As she got into her car after finishing filling up, she gave me a wave and a big smile.
When I got to work, I hung up the sign in the breakroom. I'm hoping people will take advantage of it....or even that they will smile when they look at it.
Before I had even taken the sign to work or handed out the little tabs that had fallen off, I had already received a gift in advance. When I got to my grandfathers, I looked on his kitchen table to see if there were any bills he needed me to help him with. I saw a big manila envelope with my name written across it in black marker. I sat down and pulled the contents out, surprised and filled with memories at what came out. All of the posters and clippings that I had cut out of the basketball greats back in 1990 and 1991 came spilling out of that envelope. I had given them to my grandparents for safe keeping back in 1991; 22 years ago.
Back in 1991, I was 14 years old and my parents had gotten involved with a very strict and legalistic form of Christianity. Today it's recognized as Christian Patriarchy. I was made to take all of my posters and clippings down off my wall. My parents wanted me to destroy them. Instead, I gave them to my grandparents for safe keeping. I had forgotten about them....until today. For 22 years, my grandparents have indeed kept them safe. My grandmother passed away 6 years ago and was the biggest safekeeper for me, but my grandfather has always taken it seriously, as well. 22 years after handing them over, they were given back to me. I realized what an amazing gift this was...a beautiful reminder that my grandparents have never judged me and have always supported me. What was important to me as a 14-year old girl whose whole world was being turned upside down was equally important to them and they safe guarded those things for me. I know that there are secrets, dreams, and longings that I shared with them many years ago (during those awful years of religious bondage that I was put under) that my grandparents will go to the grave with because they care deeply about my trust in them. I have never had to doubt that I could trust them with anything, no matter how silly it might have seemed at the time, and that is a gift that very few have given me. It was a gift I was reminded of all over again.
My daughter is 13 years old and is in love with basketball. She's recently become a Michael Jordan fan, though he's retired a long time ago. Most of my posters and clippings are of Jordan. Tomorrow, I know what my gift will be for the day. I will pass those treasured parts of my adolescence on to her, knowing that she'll never have to take them down unless she absolutely wants to.