Our Children Are Our Future: Give Them Hope And We Will All Benefit
I was delighted to hear that my 15 year old son was to bring over a girl he had met for dinner, let's call her Ruby.
My son is a good kid, so I felt the chances of his female friend being likewise was odds on.
They watched a couple of movies, checked out Facebook and YouTube ( I could hear them laughing so I knew they were hitting it off).
I fed them dinner (noticed she ate a lot for a small girl) and then my son and I took her home.
When I asked Ruby directions to her home, she said she had moved around a lot due to her family following short term employment opportunities and that she lived behind a church several miles from our home.
I asked her when her family got their Christmas tree, just to make some conversation and make her feel comfortable.
Ruby said, "We usually get our tree right after Thanksgiving and I always want the fluffiest tree in the lot".
We got to the church and took a right as she directed.
We stopped on a side street with one side lined with a chain linked fence.
I asked her if I could drop her at her doorstep, as it was dark and I wanted to get her home safe.
Ruby looked at me with a smile on her face and said that this was her doorstep and just inside the fence was her home.
I was a bit slow in understanding and commented that the buildings looked different from most homes.
Still smiling, Ruby shared with me that this was a shelter and this is where she and her mother lived for now.
My heart swelled with emotions I'd forgotten I had.
How could this little girl have a smile on her face? How could she cope? How could I honestly worry about my problems when she didn't seem to worry about hers? Ruby was filled with hope.
Hope that things would get better.
Hope that her and her mom would survive happily as long as they had each other.
I knew why she had eaten so much and that her Christmas tree shopping was made of hope and imagination.
She taught me a lesson in humility.
She taught me that hope is everything and with it comes happiness.
My family is going to bring the homeless shelter the biggest and fluffiest Christmas tree we can find.
My son is a good kid, so I felt the chances of his female friend being likewise was odds on.
They watched a couple of movies, checked out Facebook and YouTube ( I could hear them laughing so I knew they were hitting it off).
I fed them dinner (noticed she ate a lot for a small girl) and then my son and I took her home.
When I asked Ruby directions to her home, she said she had moved around a lot due to her family following short term employment opportunities and that she lived behind a church several miles from our home.
I asked her when her family got their Christmas tree, just to make some conversation and make her feel comfortable.
Ruby said, "We usually get our tree right after Thanksgiving and I always want the fluffiest tree in the lot".
We got to the church and took a right as she directed.
We stopped on a side street with one side lined with a chain linked fence.
I asked her if I could drop her at her doorstep, as it was dark and I wanted to get her home safe.
Ruby looked at me with a smile on her face and said that this was her doorstep and just inside the fence was her home.
I was a bit slow in understanding and commented that the buildings looked different from most homes.
Still smiling, Ruby shared with me that this was a shelter and this is where she and her mother lived for now.
My heart swelled with emotions I'd forgotten I had.
How could this little girl have a smile on her face? How could she cope? How could I honestly worry about my problems when she didn't seem to worry about hers? Ruby was filled with hope.
Hope that things would get better.
Hope that her and her mom would survive happily as long as they had each other.
I knew why she had eaten so much and that her Christmas tree shopping was made of hope and imagination.
She taught me a lesson in humility.
She taught me that hope is everything and with it comes happiness.
My family is going to bring the homeless shelter the biggest and fluffiest Christmas tree we can find.
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