Kindness

My dad loved the casino.  Craps was his game of choice and he would take the ride to Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods once or twice a week.  Sometimes my mom would join, sometimes he was just passing the time, sometimes, undoubtedly, he was looking for a bit of a gamblers high.  But what he loved most was winning small - $100 or $200 and he was done.  He recorded all of his visits and his wins and losses on handwritten legal pads.  He liked to feel like he was in a battle with the casino and the reason he most liked to win was to give away that little bit of pocket money.   

Over the weekend, I stopped into the local Dunkin Donuts to grab an ice coffee before our trip to the zoo.  A gentle older man was chitchatting - asking about where I was from etc.  He said he had plans to mow a few lawns that day.  I don't know more about him than that but I bought his coffee and donut.  Just a small act of shared humanity - saying to someone, I see you.  Maybe this brightens your day. The world is a good place.   My parents raised me well.   

It's small acts that make my dad live eternally in my heart.  I feel his presence so definitively that sometimes it's strange.  I am more certain than anything that he is not gone.  He lives through us all and it's an honor and privilege to carry forward his kindness.