Giving

Yesterday was busy! I made arrangements to go to the park near us to play with another family whose eldest and youngest are the same ages as Bunny and Carter, then about 3 minutes after I hung up with that mom, another woman I know as a classmate's mom called to accept my offer of bringing her a meal, as her family has just welcomed twins. Then I was glancing in the direction of the calendar when I realized (crap!) I also had class that night. Not a huge deal, but it did make it necessary for me to have a good plan of attack and not, as they say, dilly dally. :)

We went to the park, had a lot of fun (see photo), came home, had lunch, then I decided on what is kind of a cop-out meal to bring to a family--spaghetti. The mom is vegetarian, and I decided to make my simple 5 ingredient sauce, then build upon that to make a meaty Bolognese for the rest of her family (they eat meat), which I would double for my family to also eat. Normally I avoid pasta, since it's the kind of thing most people make when they're not wanting to cook, but hey, it is a really good slow cooked sauce, so... ;) I chopped lettuce for salad, cut half a watermelon into slices for them, made some chick pea salad so the mom would have protein, threw a package of uncooked angel hair into the bag, added a couple of oranges and apples for good measure and headed out to drop it off on my way to class.

When there, the mom was really appreciative and said I was the last person she'd expect to offer up something like a meal since I also have a baby and am pretty darn busy. I thought for a second and said, "Well, I suppose it's because I know exactly how busy and hectic it is with a larger family that I wanted to make at least one evening easier for you." I oohed and aahed over the babies (tiny!) and then skeedaddled to class.

As I was driving, I mulled over that exchange. In theory, she's right. I am not exactly overwhelmed with free time (for example, now you might think I am sitting taking a break--and I kind of am, but the only reason I am getting to sit still is I am *also* nursing). If I didn't bring her a meal, no one would think anything of it, since I am generally happy to keep my 3 fed and somewhat clean on a daily basis. But I meant what I said -- I recall how blessed I felt the 8 or 10 times someone brought a meal for me in the weeks after both Carter and Cole were born. Sure, there were some meals that worked out better than others, but I was always appreciative.

Then my mind began to wander as I cruised through rush hour traffic. I have heard that the statistics of those who're more pressed (be it financially, due to time, or perhaps with health problems, etc) tend to outperform as charitable donors and volunteers. I decided to check
that and after some quality time with Google, it's true. Perhaps those who can relate are more likely to try to alleviate the hardships of others. Ms. Komen (or her sister) did not randomly choose to champion breast cancer research -- a life was lost to the fight, then the fund was created.

Anyway, that was about as far as my brain went with that. I got about 5 hours of sleep last night, thanks to Olympics and Cole deciding he wanted to be AWAKE and HAPPY at 4:45. So you need to draw your own insightful conclusions here. Hey, I write and you read. That's our
agreement here. ;) Sometimes you get 40% of a thought, same as sometimes I get 80% of a night's sleep. Haha!