Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

On Saturday, May 30, I attended a picnic to honor foster families. After all, May is Foster Family month! and while I am not a foster parent myself, I think the world of people that are foster parents. It's an amazing thing to take care of a child, your own or not, but there seems to be something extra special about those people that choose to welcome a child(ren) that isn't theirs into their home(s). I honor them.

I attended the picnic on a wonderful, sunny Saturday and took along my contribution of chewy, frosted brownies. I met a lot of interesting, fun, bright, responsible people - both those that are foster families and those that place the children with those families. Amazing work being done by all of them. If you get the chance, thank a foster family for all that they do for love.

Today, and believe me when I say this is an act of pure kindness (although maybe not so random), I took my mother in law to the grocery store. I know, I know, I have taken other people to the store before and even shopped with them, but it's not the same. And I love my mother in law, please don't misunderstand...but she tries my patience when she won't give me a straight answer - "What store do you need to go to?" I ask, "whichever one you want to shop at, dear..." she responds. I say "X", she says "oh, I think Y has better sales this week..." Okay, then just say "let's go to Y." And if she says she only needs a few things, it means she needs at least 30 minutes. If she says she needs several things, I drop her off and come back when she calls me on the telephone (often 2 hours later). And again, don't get me wrong, I love her. I want to help her, I just want honest responses. Because I don't get those types of responses, I believe this constitutes an act of kindness from me. I could easily shuffle this responsibility off on my husband or another relative. I am taking my mother in law to shop because it's the right thing to do. She needs someone to take her and I am available. I will learn to do it with love.