As you all know, my house was broken into and burglarized one month ago. The young men who live behind my neighbor's house heard the glass breaking and called the police who called me at work. It allowed me to come home during the day and take care of getting the mess cleaned up and the glass replaced. Imagine if the police had not been called and I had come home after work, in the dark, to see the breakage and mess? I did visit the guys and thanked them for the bravery, calling the police and running around the block to see the criminals leaving in their car. I told them I was worried that they would have been harmed and these young men said "we used good judgement." I thought their parents would be proud.
It's one month later, I'm feeling like it was all in the past, so I had the twins stay over last night, at the end of their second week of kindergarten. We woke up at our usual 6am and took Buddy the poodle and Onyx the visiting Lab for a walk. The children have been raised to be very respectful of life, in the form of bugs or animals or people, and have been seen lying in the dirt to watch a snail so slowly sliding along and commenting on the event with joy.
I went to bed last night hearing the helicopters and emergency vehicles for hours and hours, evacuating the scene of what may be the worst train accident ever in Los Angeles, about 2 miles from my house. I thought about the loss of life, the horror of families whose loved ones never returned from work, the excrutiating recovery from crush injuries, and how my very overworked physician employers would be operating on those with head and spine injuries all weekend. Yet, I woke up to the voices of these little people and went in to greet them with Buddy and Onyx following close behind, all of us getting good morning wet kisses. And I thought how life can be tragic and beautiful, that we are blessed with even the tiniest moments of this kind of joy, and how lucky I am to have these moments in my life.
So, the walk. We went around a few blocks with the children taking turns walking each dog and the dogs delighting in this early morning trek. I like to walk this early, as if I am watching the world awaken, the birds starting to sing, and the sky changing from dark to gray to blue. It's rare that I see other people walking and always enjoy the solitude, using this time every morning as a meditation on my blessings, such as "I'm glad I can walk, I'm glad I can see, I'm glad I have a job" etc. etc. until I can go forward in my day happily.
This morning, we were walking by the house where the guys who called the police live and, just as we were passing, a woman walked out, looking ready for a walk or a run. I was about to say hi and thank her for what her sons had done when she said that she knew that I was the one with the burglary and asked how I was. I did express my appreciation for the action of her sons and she told me how beautiful my grandchildren are, so sincerely that her face just lit up looking at them. As we were walking and talking, she said that she ran and walked up and around a nearby park. When I told her how good and fit she looked, she said that she and her husband had visited my office for a consultation with my boss and that I had talked to her about being fit and that's what motivated her to "change my life." That she had been sluggish and unhealthy and, after hearing whatever it was I had said, she started eating right and walking and running and talked about how "centered" she became after her morning exercise. I was totally amazed, as I had no memory of meeting her or talking to her in my office. She said "you really change lives."
How wonderful is that moment! What a circle, that I said something to help another and that person's children made a tragedy in my life much more bearable. That, after a night of listening to the sounds of a terrible nearby train crash, I would meet this woman on my walk and hear how I affected her in such a positive way. I feel happy and amazed. And grateful for one more joyful moment in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment