I had a few errands to do this afternoon, and boy oh boy did it feel good to get out of the office. It is gorgeous out there! The best weather we've had since August, for sure. I'm wearing jeans and a sweater and I had to roll the window down. Sheesh. Anyway, I went to Safeway for a second before getting started to grab myself a much-deserved raise-celebrating Dr. Pepper. (It was going to be coffee, but since it was nice outside, I decided to go with pop, which is mucho cheaper.) Well, once I was there, I felt bad just getting a pop and that's it and charging it. So I grabbed a birthday card for my mom too, (her birthday is Tuesday) and the woman asked me at the checkout stand if I wanted to donate $1 to breast cancer research.
I stood there, with the birthday card for my mom in my hand, and my lip started quivering. It's been eight years, and I can still get caught off guard. Here I am, at the Aberdeen Safeway, buying a card for my mom's 55th birthday.
I nodded to the woman, finances be damned. It's a $1, and don't get me started on the rules and laws of
tzedakah , but I sure can tell you the spirit of it. Everyone must give. Financial success comes to the generous and caring, not to the stingy and cheap. It's easy to say no to the muscular dystrophy people or the cystic fibrosis people or whatever, because its not something I care about, but when I see the pink ribbons, I know that's where my tzedakah is going to go.
The woman gave me a necklace or keychain or something, and I smiled at her through my teary eyes.
Confidential from me to you: Do you have someone in your life that you love very much but take for granted that they will always be there? Your husband? Your mom? A grandfather? Call them up. Say I love you. And the next time you're asked if you want to give a dollar to breast cancer research, think of me and my mom and say yes.