choices

had a thought this morning........

about how we live and what our choices do for our lives.

right next door to me lives a guy around my age with
his elderly mom. she's alone a fair amount of the time
because he works and goes out a bit here and there.

she's very nice and always has been pleasant to me.
the guys do things for her and help her here and there.
but she does have her son. that is in the mix, and i
see that. but mrs. b. also doesn't come outside, doesn't
step out the door to chat, and has stopped inviting us in.
when we drop a goodie off, it's at the door.

right next to her is mrs. g. the one i hang out with.
she's outside quite a bit, always giving us things,
hollers when i go by, and calls and invites me over.

the way she includes us in her life has made such a difference
in how we include her.

oh yeah, my guys are the best guys in the world, and
definitely the neighbor guys you'd want living near you.
and they treat everyone really well. they do stuff for
everyone.

but who did they adopt as their grandmother?
who is it they go down just to say hello to and stay for
long periods of time?

the woman who has chosen to reach out and give back to them
as much as she can. the woman who asks them what they're up
to. the woman who sees their beauty and tells them so.

her choices have allowed others to come in and hang out.

our choices have that power.

what we give back to the world matters.
and as i thought of my two neighbors this morning,
i was pretty taken with the differences.

choices.

they're everywhere.