Being Kind and Meeting New Friends

I love meeting kindred spirits.

It makes my soul grow and that is something I love.

Kind of strange how one comes full circle.

As the youngest of seven children, yes 7.

I was often told what to do

 how to do it

 and when to do it by 9 other people in my life.

Oh, my family may beg to differ,

but as a young girl this is what I remember.

My family consisted of parents,

 six siblings

and a faternal Grandmother that lived with us.

So you must be figuring out from this post,

that I would of been a weeee bit shy back then.

Try picturing a five year old hiding behind a parents leg,
and holding on to that leg to hide.

Since I was used to everyone doing/saying/thinking for me,

I didn't have to do to much talking when I was young.

Those that know me now,

would say I've been making up for this in my adult life.

:)

I do love to talk,

to meet new people,

and to share in their journey,

whatever that may be.

So I'm embarrassed now to say that the story goes like this...

as a young child I could not stand how my parents would talk to everyone they met.

Complete strangers...

people standing in line at the grocery store,

people visiting our church...

even inviting visitors home from church for Sunday dinner with our family.

Now, we lived in a town of 356 people,

so strangers did stand out in our community.

But, my parents were friendly wherever they went.
This is who they were...

So the point in this post is this...

I have become like my parents.

Yep, you read this right.

However, I take this a step further than I believe they did.

They were just being who they were.

Sometimes, I make an effort to be more out going then I naturally would.

To be friendlier than what I may feel like it a given day.

To make a point to hold the door for the elderly,

just because they're used to us youngin's disrespecting by walking in first.

And do you notice the sad and unhappy people around you?

Why not make the world a better place?

I call what I do...

"Sprinkling a little Sugar and Cream on people".

Try it for yourself.

See what happens.

You might be surprised.

I love to sprinkle extra doses on the saddest people I run into.

With amazing results most of the time.

Here's how to do it...

Strike up a conversation  with someone,

while standing in line,

just because.

Hand out a sincere compliment,

instead of just thinking it in your head.

(if it's an insult, best to keep ones mouth shut)

Carry something for an overburdened Mom with children,

the elderly gentleman walking with a cane,

or the harried business woman trying to do it all.

Hold the door open for someone and let them go first,

and show elderly people respect like we were raised to do.

It's rather fun to see how doing acts of kindness,

being friendly,

visiting with strangers,

passing out sincere compliments

and

just plain being thoughtful

can make someone's day!

You can be the reason the crabby

person turns into a cheeful person

on any given day.

We each can make a difference!

Thanks Mom and Dad for teaching me,

the fine art of

making a postive difference

in others lives.

This blog post was inspired by email conversations with a new kindred spirit I recently met through blogland.  Thank you Kim for believing in me, and here's to our new friendship and partnering together through blogging in the future. 

I do hope to meet many of you followers at the upcoming Junk Bonanza event in just 1 1/2 weeks now.  Do stop in my booth, introduce yourself and join in with me by helping me spread a little "Sugar and Cream" around the world.
*Just trying some new techniques with blogging styles and editing photographs. The above photographs are some of the results.  The last picture is the natural color for all of the previous photos, so its interesting what one can do.  What do you think?