I still having trouble believing that this really happened.  Forgive me if this story jumps around a lot.  There are some “backstories” within my little drama.  And it is all true.  My mother had a pacemaker put in.  Because I was on summer vacation, I was able to be with my mom when she had her operation.  I stayed in the hospital with her and then went to her house for the days following her procedure.

The day before we were to see the doctor  for a follow up appointment, I said to my mom, “Why don’t we get your bath now? Then we will have time to relax before dinner.”  So, we began to get ready.

First, let’s rewind to earlier in the day.  My brother was at the house and he was getting my mom’s cable fixed.  I took the opportunity to go home and get some clothes and a few other things while he was there with mom.  When I came back, my brother was still with the cable guy in her kitchen and my mom was sitting in the living room.  I walked into the living room and set my stuff down on the couch.  I left them there.

After my brother left, we went back into the kitchen. We decided to do her bath.  My mom took off her “button”, (the one you wear around your neck or wrist in case you need help when you are older and living alone, like my mom.)  “Where should I put it?” she asked.  Silly me, I answered, “Why don’t you just leave it here?”  Remember this.  I told her to leave it in the kitchen.

She got undressed and went into the bathroom with me.  She wasn’t supposed to wash the spot where the pacemaker was, but water could run over it from her back.  So I was there to help with the sprayer and make sure she was safe. She was sitting in the shower chair and I was trying to pick up the sprayer and told her to drop it.  When she did, it landed so that it sprayed up in the air directly at me.  My pants were soaked and we were laughing really hard.  I had to take off my pants and put them in the bedroom next to the bathroom.  Then I went back into the bathroom and closed the door.

After her bath, I helped my mom get out of the tub.  We were still laughing as we often do when we are together.  After she dried off I went to the door and turned the knob.  It didn’t open, so I tried again, and again, and again.  We just looked at each other and laughed.  I hadn’t locked the door.  Even if I had, it locks and unlocks from the inside.  So I tried again.

Needless-to-say, I tried again, and again and again and again.  We were laughing even harder now.  I had jokingly said to her during the bath, “Well, now we will have a funny story to tell!” after the sprayer had soaked my pants.  Now, here I was standing in the bathroom with only a shirt and underwear on.  And my poor mom was standing there naked.

To be continued…………

Some time ago, I was just thinking about the positive things that pop into my head whenever I am out and around other people.  It may be in the grocery store, in line at the at the post office, at work, or in a park and I will think, “Wow!  That man is so patient.”  Or, I might see a person who just lights up a room with her smile, or someone who has a sunny disposition.  And at times, I have heard co-workers talk very highly of a colleague when the person is not present in the room.

So one day, I thought to  myself, “Why not tell these people the positive things that I think, or observe, or know about them.  Isn’t it a waste of positive energy to just let it stop there, unexpressed?”  Good things are blessings and I think that they are meant to be shared.  And so, I decided to act upon them and see what would happen.  It was a little experiment.  That’s all.

Of course, I thought there was no way this could fail to be a good thing.  After all, what was there to lose?  But I was amazed by how it made me feel just to think about telling them.  It was really wonderful to think that I would be able to share a little joy with people that I didn’t even have to know.

So the next time I had a thought that was positive, I just flat out said it.  I think the first time  it might have been to a cashier who was handling difficult customers with so much grace and patience.  I just told her that I had observed and appreciated the great job she was doing. The way she was dealing with the rudeness of the people she was serving was truly admirable.  I wish you could have seen the look on her face when I said those words.  She was so surprised and grateful for my appreciation.  I felt like we we sharing a brief moment of connection that was like affection.  I guess you could say it was a feeling of human kindness.  And I am not overplaying what happened.  It was profound.

In our culture, I think we have become very cynical. On top of that, in this world of distractions and busyness, it is hard to just take a moment and breathe, let alone think positive thoughts. But taking that moment to observe the people around us, and notice those good things, is an antidote to the negativity that we often feel.

I did hear a whole room of teachers talk about another teacher who was not present.  They were all so impressed by the job she was doing with her class, working with emotionally disabled students.  So, the next time I saw her, I stopped her in the hall and told her about what people had said about her, and asked if she knew this.  She was shocked and seemed unable to believe me for a moment.  And then she thanked me so much for telling her.  I said that I was just sharing the words I had heard expressed and I thought that she should know.

Every time I do this experiment, I am blessed by the experience.  It makes me happy to be the bearer of good news.  How could it no be so?

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Lora Marie.  I am what my counselor calls a divergent thinker.  My husband, like many men, is a linear thinker.  This has caused some issues in our discussions from time to time, as you can imagine.

I sometimes wonder how people follow the path of my verbal meanderings.  Once in awhile I catch myself in the middle of a mental rollercoaster and think, “Where was I going with this?”  But my friends just follow along and help me find my way back to my original train of thought.  I have some really fabulous friends.  Some of them even tell me that they like to listen to me talk.  I always tell them, “Watch out!  That just encourages me!”  And it does.

This idiosyncrasy of mine causes my husband to go crazy at times because he really does want to understand me.  By the time I come back to his turn in a dialogue we are having, he has this confused expression on his face and says, “I don’t remember what we were talking about in the first place.”  I don’t either sometimes.

My son used to call me “tangent woman” because the whole thing was really funny to him.  He even sang it to me like a little song when I was doing this.  Now my grandchildren just call me “random.”  They think it’s funny too!  That’s okay.  I like being considered funny.

One day I discovered that this behavior was not unusual in my family.  My mother and brother were talking and they were both doing these verbal gymnastic routines  in the same conversation.  They just followed each other in and out of several different topics and ended up completing all of them at the same time.  Wow.  I was impressed.  And to think I had never even noticed it before.

Upon further reflection, I realized that I had seen this pattern before with my dad and his mom (my grandmother.)  They did this flawlessly, and I had observed it all my life. So I guess you could say I came by this naturally.  And you could also say that some men are divergent thinkers too.

So, I have decided to do this experiment, so to speak, and write a blog.  I have no idea whether or not anyone will want to read this.  But what the heck?  Why not?  Let me know what you think!