"If you can cultivate that quality of human warmth, wanting genuinely for other people to be happy; that’s the best way to fulfill your own happiness.
"This is also the most gratifying state of mind.
"If we try humbly to enhance our benevolence, that will be the best way to have a good life."
--Matthieu Ricard, best-selling author and former interpreter for the Dalai Lama
I saw the comment above this morning and thought it was worth sharing.
For the most part, I believe people do their best to follow the message. In fact, I'm confident that every day, in ways large and small, we are recipients of someone walking the talk.
The letter below exemplifies just that: thoughtfulness toward others which is bound to bring happiness.
Yes, I was very happy and touched when I opened the unexpected package from the mailbox and read the message: on my mother's 102nd birthday no less.
Mary had no idea when she sent the package that it would arrive on such a significant date.
Serendipitous and a gesture to be cherished.
A few years ago, while on a trip to Vietnam, our daughter Annie met Greg Vanderford and his wife Tuyen in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City.
Greg had spent some time in Saigon as an English teacher and a director of the Saigon Sports Academy where he met Tuyen.
Fast forward to August, 2023. Remembering a comment Annie had made that Greg would someday like to see our farm and having some journalistic business to do, I invited the family to the Lovestead.
To say it was a delightful and action-packed experience from start to finish would be an understatement.
Fly fishing lessons, blueberry picking, reading one of Evelyn's most recent books, horse petting, potato digging, riding in the UTV and even chasing a snake out of our house which had slithered over the threshold from the deck and hidden under Evelyn's bag.
The kids even found a weird-looking caterpillar in the lawn, and Foster had a heyday getting acquainted with the family, as did Bill and I.
As the visit ended, Tuyen wanted a selfie. Tommy refused to smile in the first picture, so she took a second, this time saying in Vietnamese to Tommy "ice cream."
Tommy smiled.
Bill and I loved the visit, and I think the Vanderford's had a good time too.
Lily has been very sad since yesterday afternoon when her buddy CB left the Lovestead and rode in the trailer over to Colburn where Laurie will spend a week giving him a riding refresher course.
CB is doing just fine, surrounded by friends he has met on past occasions at Colburn.
This morning while I was cleaning out the horse trailer, Lily stopped eating her breakfast, stood at the gate of the hay field, looked over toward the trailer and whinnied longingly.
She had heard the shovel bang on the horse trailer floor and thought for sure that CB must be there.
It was not to be, and later she went back to eating her breakfast.
It's amazing how deep the emotions of horses run.
I didn't realize until I saw it on Facebook that today is International Left-Handers Day.
From this left-hander, a shout out to all others who have lived in a world dominated by right-handers.
We're all okay in spite of our tendency to think and to tackle things a bit differently from the rest of the world.
Also, Happy Sunday. Go make someone's day.
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