The Christmas Box

Morning number 5 of Rise and Write has me thinking about kindness. Write about an act of kindness that made you look differently at what kindness is and maybe look differently at life. What was the situation? Maybe it was in your childhood, or maybe it happened last week. Maybe you were the person who was being kind, when someone needed it the most, and maybe did not expect it. If nothing comes to mind, invent!

With each year since the passing of each of my parents, some memories begin to fade, and others may become distorted.  Events lived by my siblings and I may each be told through a different memory filter.  This may or may not have happened this way, but it is how I remember it, or choose to remember it.  For those who have read my posts on this or my other blog, you may recall I come from a large family of ten kids, me in the 9th position.  Money was probably always tight, and I am betting at times we were down right poor, but as a credit to my parents, we never lacked for necessities.  I don't know if my parents did or not. To give a little context, the mid to late 70’s saw two oil crisis, high unemployment peaks and a recession.  Many families were not doing well, but the go-go 90's and millennium before the last economic bubble burst, made people forget those years. 

Despite our own financial reality, my family adopted another family each Christmas. This meant putting together a food basket, homemade items used to be perfectly acceptable, a gift for each of the children in the family, and a few practical things for any adults. You could also put gently used items, clothes, and dishes etc. that were on a wish list.  While we handed down clothes within the family, occasionally my younger sister would get a new article of clothing. My sister got a new coat when it became obvious the one I used to wear was too thread bare and beyond mendable. This was a lovely coat too, red with a hood, with a light fake fur trim. She was so pleased to have been able to pick it out, and it not being just a cast off from an older sibling or relative. As timing would have it, a cousin did pass a coat along in my sister’s size, after the red coat was purchased, of equal or better quality and condition, but not nearly as pretty. Coincidentally, a girl’s coat, in the size my sister wore, was on the wish list. One of the two coats was going to be given in the Christmas box, but my sister could make the choice. 

The tradition of adopting a family is completely anonymous, so I don't know why this particular Christmas we knew who the family was we had adopted. We knew the kids. There were four of them, and they lived generally in our rural area, riding the school bus with us. The two boys in the family seemed to attract the worst behavior from other boys.  Now it would clearly be bullying, but unfortunately, seemed to be the norm. The two girls were quiet and mousy, and seemed to want to be invisible. Their stop was one of the last stops on the route so the kids were left balancing on the edge of a seat. That first Monday after Christmas vacation was done, my sister and I couldn't help looking for the kids to see if the girl was wearing her coat. When they got on, sure enough, she was wrapped in the warmth of the coat, fur trimmed hood and all, and also sporting what looked like a new scarf, hat, and mittens. The siblings too each appeared to have new, or at least new to them, outer wear. My sister loved that coat, but knew the girl would probably love it more.

I've often wondered if I would have made the same choice.  I hope I would have, but my kind sister, who remains kind and generous as an adult, didn't even debate her decision. Kindness to me is those on the spot decisions to do the thing that will make someone else’s life, day, hour, or even moment just a bit better, regardless of the inconvenience. It's not saying yes all the time to any request or favor, but saying yes when it most makes a difference.