Suburban Island:

I have been walking this summer – in the evenings, close to twilight – when it gets cooler and the sky is a deeper more restful blue. It’s a good time to think and clear my mind. Walking is supposed to be really good for you and so I feel proud of myself for making this small effort towards a healthier lifestyle. Especially since the closest I’ve gotten to the gym lately is seeing the monthly fee automatically pulled out of my bank account every month. Until I can find my gym shoes or the weather gets super cold, I’m going to be walking.

Some people like to walk in the morning. I am glad just to convince myself to roll out of bed and get the day started – I am not a morning person. I favor evening walks. The streets are quiet and the air feels good when you’ve been inside most of the day. I like the peaceful quality of that time of day and how in spite of that settling-in sense that you get as people start to move into their nighttime routine, there is still a lot to see and plenty of things going on all around the neighborhood. The trees are green and the gardens are flowering right now, Once in awhile, you pass a neighbor in their yard or on their own walk and smiles, a wave, or a few words of greeting are exchanged. We are glad to be not working, not doing, just being outside for a few minutes. The street lights start to turn on and they look golden against the rising night. I begin to see a few fireflies. The birds are closing their songs and the insects are kicking up their noise by the time I get back home but I have my iPod so I only hear the edge of that. I always feel refreshed and slightly virtuous.

I have learned that there are some perils to be side-stepped on these quiet walks. There are a few barking dogs to be avoided – especially two big black labs that wander around in their front yard in one of the best places to walk. I cross the street. How am I supposed to know for sure whether or not the Hound of the Baskervilles and company is behind an invisible electric fence or not? There is a house being renovated down another nice cul-de-sac that currently features a big blue porta-potty out front for the work crew. The smell wafting across the sidewalk from that thing will know knock you out cold if you don’t hold your breath and walk real fast. There are plenty of sprinklers to be dodged but I like dodging sprinklers. The biggest danger is from technology. The lure to keep your headphones on even when crossing the street is very strong. However, the dangers to be met by crossing the street with your earbuds stuck in your ear are sizable. I made a pact with myself early on in my walking adventures after thinking I was crossing an empty street and feeling the whoosh of a car going past me a moment later. I didn’t hear it because I had my iPod on and I thought there was nothing there. Now I look twice – just like they tell you to when you are a kid – and I turn off the volume on the iPod until I am safely across even the quietest street.

Getting run down while crossing a street on Suburban Island because I am trying to take better care of my health with a daily walk, would be a great irony and really cramp my style besides. Spritopias could probably write a really funny blog post about it but still…

It would be even more distressing if they ran over my iPod at the same time and I was stuck in the hospital without it. I once went out to buy a set of headphones from a nearby drug store because I found my iPod at hand but my headphones left behind at home while unexpectedly stuck in a hospital waiting room. I was only there for only a half hour or so before I knew that I could not possible deal with several more hours in a room with a blaring TV not blaring my preferred shows, a man yelling ceaselessly at his kids, and a lot of people coughing and otherwise being sick. A girl needs a little peace and quiet and the iPod works for me. Finally, I am just the tiniest bit in control of my environment and I actually have a soundtrack that I pick to suit the moment. In a hospital waiting room, in a taxi cab, in my car, in the grocery store, while I'm cleaning the house, while I am reading a book in bed before I fall asleep, while I am writing this - and even on a peaceful evening walk. Except, of course, while crossing even the quietest Suburban Island street.

You know what they say - all things in moderation. I guess that means even with relation to the iPod.

Are random acts of kindness really random? I’m not so sure. Maybe our good deeds are being funneled to the right people at the right time as often as not. How many times have you experienced this in your own life – your random kindness or someone else’s towards you, came at just the right time and provided just what was needed and yet you had no idea that would be the result.

I had the opportunity to be the object of an unexpected act of kindness not too long ago. It was after a swamp tour in hot humid New Orleans this summer. I was taking a day off to sightsee after attending a conference for work. My daughter had come along with me and we had decided to experience the swamps. We were not disappointed. After she and I had gotten off the boat that had taken us to see the gators and the spectacular beauties of the swamplands, and before heading onto the bus, I stopped to use the restroom. The restroom was a small freestanding building sitting all by itself on the green grass near the landing for the boats. In front of me was just one person. She was wearing this really cool bracelet – a circle of saints and holy pictures. I complimented her on it. She told me in broken English laced with Spanish about the bracelet and that she had driven there with her family from Mexico. Then she took her turn in the restroom and I took mine. When I came out, there was this same woman with her family. She was calling to me from the driver's seat of a pick up truck.

I walked over and she handed me the bracelet. I was shocked. I tried to refuse it but they really didn’t understand what I was saying and I really didn't understand what they were saying and in the meantime she kept pressing it on me. In the end, I could only thank her, give her a big hug, and go on my way, bracelet in hand.

Now, it might not seem like much but it was a gift straight from above for me. You see, we had flown from DC to New Orleans in a smaller plane on the trip down and the turbulence was terrible during most of the flight. The plan swayed back and forth and seemed to drop like a stone several times. All I could imagine was the aircraft crashing and I must tell you I was almost crying during some of this terrifying flight. It scared the living daylights out of me and truthfully, I was not very happy about facing the fight back. Actually, I was dreading it.

This bracelet came to me the day before our departure and was a great comfort for me to wear on the trip home. Reflecting on the images on that bracelet gave me a real sense of calm while in the air and luckily there was hardly any turbulence in comparison to the flight down. I don’t know who this woman was but I am grateful to her for her act of kindness to me and I was amazed at how this had occurred at just the right time and place to address my concern.

Do I think it was an accident?

No.

Sometimes stuff just happens. Sometimes stuff happens for a reason.

I hope that this stranger gets her own random act of kindness somewhere down the road. I keep her in my thoughts. And although I don’t even know her name, I consider her a friend of mine.