Angels Drive Mini Vans

A few months back, I found myself needing to go to the mall by my house. It was a quick run in and out event, so I gave no thought to swinging in there while I was "out and about". Epic fail. Oh, I can enter the mall without a problem. Leaving? Not so easy. I can climb steps and walk on an uphill grade unassisted like a "big girl". However, walking DOWN steps of any kind and/or if there is ANY sort of a downward slope a handrail is required.

I exited the front doors of the mall and was seized by anxiety. There was a step from the curb to the parking lot and it was HUGE. The only way to avoid the curb was to toddle down a sloped grade. There wasn't a handrail in sight.

I stood there. I looked at the curb and quickly determined that it simply wasn't going to happen. My gaze fell on the sloped cement. Nope. Couldn't do it. I began to panic. How was I going to get to my jeep? I debated walking in to ask someone at the customer service desk to render me aid. My face must have been plastered with pure panic because a guy walked up to me and asked if I needed something. I tearfully asked if I could hold his arm to step down the curb. He gallantly held it out for me and allowed me to clutch it in a death grip. I thanked him profusely and wobbled humbly to my jeep. I thought, "Well, that's it. I'll never again go to the mall unassisted." Then I bawled the entire way home.

My tiny little brain compartmentalized the event in the "Let's just forget it ever happened" drawer and a few weeks later I found myself needing to run in to the Provo Towne Center Mall REALLY QUICK. So that's exactly what I did. Sort of.

I made my dash in, hit the kiosk that I had to get to, turned around, walked out the doors and FROZE. What the crap was I thinking? I can't get to my jeep. I can't. I can't. I can't.

I had parked in a handicap space in the upper parking lot. I needed to go about 50 feet to the left in order to get to my jeep. I saw that I could follow the sidewalk to the front of my jeep and use the vehicle as a handhold to step off the curb. EXCEPT the sidewalk sloped downward toward the lot. That slope NO KIDDING looked like a gaping cavernous hole in the ground.

I began making my way along the sidewalk. As the ground sloped more and more, my legs shook and my strides decreased to minute proportions. The realization came that there was no way possible for my sidewalk strategy to work. BUT, if I could walk in the grass for three feet, I could circumvent the slope, get back on the sidewalk, head to my jeep and get the crap out of there.

No problem, right? I walk on my grass ALL THE TIME. I got this.

I stepped off to the grass and embraced my epic mistake. This grass was plush. Spongy. Mushy. Squishy. Deep. And I was stuck. I do mean STUCK. I couldn't get back up to the sidewalk and I could not make a SINGLE step in the grass.

I know you're probably thinking "Oh, quit being so dramatic." You would be wrong. I was going to be in the grass until hell froze over. There was no way around it.

A minivan was parked in the lot. Unbeknownst to me, a gal had exited the mall WITHOUT A PROBLEM and got in her van to drive away. She must have been eyeing my meltdown. Through my tears I heard, "Do you need some help?"

I grasped her arm and shook VIOLENTLY the entire way to my jeep. But I made it.

I watched with tears streaming down my face as she drove her van away.

Have I not said it a MILLION times? Take a minute and LOOK around you. Be the person that helps. Be the strong arm, the shoulder, the friend, the angel to those in need. You'll be better for it. I promise.

Yep. Angels drive mini vans. Who knew?

Waiting On The World To Change

The other day Shelby called me on the way home from work. Her day had gone a bit South of epic and she began processing. I've learned that Shelby typically finds her own way to an answer, so I sit, shut up and listen to her ramble back and forth until she lets go of her anger and lands. It's usually right where she needs to be looking.

"I just wonder what I'm doing to add to the problem."

There you go. That's my girl.

As my kids grew, arguments increased. You know the silly stuff. "She's wearing my shirt." "He doesn't clean anything." "Why do I always have to help?" "Why?" "How Come?" "What for?" "But HE... "But SHE..." "Why do you ALWAYS pick her side?" "You need to tell HIM..." My frustration level grew as they became more vocal and argumentative. I found I was constantly running interference and my questions were directed to the OTHER party in the argument.  "Why did you do that to her?" "Why did you hit him?" The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Right?

One day I changed my focus. I've never looked back. I only address the complaining party. "What can you do to help fix it?" "Be a part of the solution. Don't create another problem." "Haven't you learned that the only person you can control is yourself?"

I've said it before. It's my belief that in an argument both parties are correct. Disagreements typically stem from emotion and how can your feelings be wrong? If yours aren't wrong, why is it that what the other party is feeling is in the wrong? Doesn't go that way. Sorry.

What you are doing isn't working? Do something different. Investigate. Study. Ask. And, yes, sometimes BE QUIET. What you have to say isn't nearly as important as the person you are saying it to. Silence can be golden. Be golden.

Knowledge is power. When knowledge turns inward, the power is held in our own hands. Trust me. I need all the power I can get. I would guess that you do too. Arrogance isn't power. Judgment isn't power. Arguments aren't power. Fear isn't power. Change. Belief. Hope. Humility. Sacrifice. Love. That's what our souls desire. You want power? Search your soul and be your own change. You'll find that your change will inspire the change you wish to see in those that surround you.


Mahatma Gandhi said:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Be it.