Makes You Think

So every Tuesday I go to my 91 year old Great-Grandma's for lunch, you know to check in on her and make sure she is doing good and staying out of trouble.  Grandma is a firecracker at 91 years old. You will probably see more posts about her, she is so much fun!!

A little background

****

For the past few weeks I have been doing some serious "spring cleaning" and going through my entire house and getting rid of everything that I have packed away because I'm a pack rat. Well my boyfriend is just the opposite and since there is discussion about moving in here really soon, we have two full houses to combine in one.  So I have been doing some serious down sizing and getting rid of a lot. Now, I donate what can be donated and I throw away all the broken, not so good stuff.  So since my Grandma has a huge dumpster and I go down for lunch every Tuesday anyways, I load up my trunk with the stuff I'm throwing away and take down to her house on Tuesday's. 

So today at lunch, I arrive at Grandma's, I unload my trunk in the dumpster and I go in and have lunch with Grandma.  Usually BLT's and a Pepsi, she knows I love bacon and always cooks a pound of bacon on Tuesday's for me. The funny thing about that is, I don't drink pop ever and I really don't like Pepsi.  For some reason she thinks I love Pepsi and always buys it just for me.  I don't have the heart to tell her I would rather drink water, so I drink one pop a week.  Bless her heart! 

As I'm leaving, I hear somebody talking out by the dumpster, where my car is at.  Now Grandma lives in a terrible neighborhood, so I immediately go into defense mode and I'm walking quickly to my car, hit the unlock button once so it only unlocks my door, and hop in and lock the door quickly.  As I'm backing out, I see this old man looking through the trash and he says something to me.  I roll my window down, and he goes I promise I won't make a mess I'm just looking through the stuff.  My heart broke, I immediately felt terrible, and started to cry.  I wish I had cash right then and there to give him some money. I wanted to drive straight to the nearest ATM and grab cash out. He was so sweet and the look on his face really got to me.  I looked at him and told him don't you worry and you can have anything you want out of there. Part of me wanted to tell him I will be bringing stuff again next week.  If I knew I would see him again I would pack a trash bag full of some food and blankets and towels or anything else I think he could use.

So I teared up the whole way back to work and started to think. I complain, and I complain a lot about not having money. Not being able to buy the things I want or give Kadyn everything she wants. I complain that I have a college degree and I make less then people with no degrees. I complain about the bills I have and living paycheck to paycheck and some months not having an extra $3.00 to buy an ice cream cone for Kadyn until I get paid again. But the bottom line is, I have a car, a house, a bed to sleep in, clothes on my back, food to eat, blankets to cover up with, Kadyn has everything she needs and then some.  I may not be able to take a vacation every year like I would like to, or go out and buy a new outfit just because, or go out to dinner more then one night every few months. But I have a lot and today I have never been more grateful for what I do have. 

I just couldn't imagine being so desperate that I would have to dig through a dumpster in an alley. It really broke my heart seeing him and the fact that he was worried about making a mess. I felt bad for throwing stuff away. Be thankful for what you have!!