**THROWBACK POST**
December 20 2012:
Spreading HappYness Day #19 & #20
Thomas and I went for a walk last night to look at Christmas decorations in our neighborhood. Felt so good and brought instant happYness.
Tonight I helped clean up Thomas’ classroom after multi-cultural night and Thomas helped serve food.
Keep spreadin it y’all. It’s contagious and hopefully there will never be a vaccine for it … It’s the HappYness Virus!
(Thomas at the Sparks Library – May 2012)
December 10 2022
You know those times when you impulsively do something kind and then afterward you question yourself. Thinking that what you did was stupid, and may be received as creepy. Please try to allow the doubt to move on through. It’s just a lie. Do the kind things. Gotta go. My eyes are leaking liquid love. ❤️❤️❤️
**THROWBACK POST**
May 27 2014:
I was making Lillian’s lunch for tomorrow and her beautiful bread gave me a wink and a little crooked smile ….. I love being open to kindness, happiness and love coming at me from any one or any thing! HA! ♡
May 28 2012:
“I’m so glad I’m still a kid.” -Thomas Darnell
{ This has turned into a morning long conversation. Today’s BrainPop was about Memorial Day and mourning. He asked what mourning means …. Then said he never wants Lillian to die and his eyes started “sweating” (as he calls it). May we ALL remember to think and live like when we were a kid and to fully embrace every single moment with our loved ones!}
**THROWBACK POST**
December 28 2015:
“Just being in the same room with you is fun.” -Thomas randomly says to me as we’re sitting next to each other reading.
It blessed me to hear this in that moment. Perhaps you’ll be moved to share something similar with someone you enjoy being around.
Share the love …. xoxo!
**THROWBACK POST**
December 21 2012:
I sat reading a book in the coffee shop this morning while waiting on my friend to arrive. I got up to move to a smaller table and a man sitting nearby said, “I like your boots”. So we started chatting about boots and he showed me his boots. We talked about boots with leather bottoms and boots with rubber bottoms.
He’s got 5 days off and is visiting from Elko, Nevada. He works for one of the mining companies in Elko. I learned about this huge truck he drives that has a 12,000 gallon tank and how the tank gets filled and what happens when it’s being filled. He works 4 days on and 5 off and then 5 on and 4 off. He’s going to an end of the world party tonight!
I learned that he likes Harley motorcycles and boots and about the Harley he’s about to purchase so he can take trips on it. This one has waterproof storage. Says he’s gonna take a trip on it this summer down to Arizona to see his brother and ride through the Grand Canyon on the way.
He likes to write so he is going to journal his trip. I shared how I thought that was a GREAT idea. He likes to write letters “the old fashioned way”, put a stamp on them and mail them. He likes to read too. So I shared how I like to write and read also and that I had just written and published a book.
His name is Paul. He bought one of my books, is going to read it and then give to his sister who is a school teacher in Winnemucca. I did not know him, He did not know me. Now we know each other and now you know about him too!!
All this while I was waiting for my friend to show up. I could have just said “Thank You” when he complimented my boots and went back to reading my book. The old me would have. I sure hope I enriched his life. I know he enriched mine by letting me listen and learn about him.
**THROWBACK POST**
October 22 2013:
My words to Thomas as we had our nightly pre-bed time chat ..
“We cannot control what people do with kindness once we share it with them. If we use our time thinking and wondering why they responded in a certain way or why they weren’t honest with us, we have missed the opportunity to enjoy those moments and will never get them back. I told him I know this is a hard one as I still struggle with remembering this at times too. Told him how much I loved him and that I don’t want him to EVER forget how awesome he is” ….
Fairy Princess Lillian had a melt down tonight. After that, Thomas was trying to be helpful. He took Lillian’s pillows off her bed for her and stacked them so beautifully at the foot of her bed … just like she does. She has some kind of singing ritual she does when taking them off and he didn’t do that part. She was upset with him and he was sad that she didn’t appreciate his help.
I gave Lillian a suggestion for handling the situation differently next time. Suggested she thank Thomas for his help and after he had gone to bed she could re-do the pillow removing ritual. She understood. Poor sweet girl was just tired and those darn missing chromosomes have her lacking in the coping area of life some times …
I’m just so blessed and grateful I get to have these two in my life to learn from and teach and to be a mirror for one another when we need it! xoxo
August 17 2017:
“Where has society reached when “giving love” is a job description?” -Thomas … He wants to volunteer at The Humane Society and saw this as a job description on the website. xoxoxo
That’s definitely my kind of job description!! Thomas’ thoughts were that this is just something we should all already be doing … xoxoxo
**THROWBACK POST**
February 28 2014:
Thomas and I were in the post office a couple of days before Valentine’s Day. The lady in front of me asked a question about Thomas and we began to chat about Valentine’s Day.
She shared that her four legged friends are her valentine’s. I shared with her that we try to show love every day and don’t wait for a designated holiday to do this. We shared smiles, giggles and little pieces of ourselves.
She enjoyed Thomas and I and insisted we go in front of her. Sharing kindness and love … every day, every where we go … Here’s wishing this inspires you to do the same!! xoxo
November 18 2016:
The Post Office Gift
As Paige entered the post office she was greeted with a line extending nearly to the door. Internally she breathed a sigh of relief knowing she would be using the self-serve kiosk. With only one person waiting ahead of her, she contentedly stepped in line behind him.
He turned to face Paige and with contempt said, “It may be awhile. This lady is having problems. She’s been up there for ten minutes.” He was referring to the customer using the kiosk. Paige spent a few seconds taking in the situation.
The woman at the kiosk seemed to be looking for something and holding her arms up in confusion. Paige could sense the woman’s overwhelmed feelings penetrating the already flat energy within the foyer.
Without hesitation, Paige approached the woman and asked, “Can I help you?” With a slight hint of desperation the woman said, “I can’t find my postage.” Having used the self-serve kiosk an absurd number of times over the years, Paige had become intimately familiar with it.
She knew exactly where the postage was dispensed. If you’ve never used the kiosk before, you wouldn’t know that you cannot visually see the postage once dispensed. One must bend down, placing one’s hand inside the dispenser box to pull the postage from the dispenser. It does not release and drop on its own.
The woman was quit relieved and delightedly thankful. She moved on and the long waiting, irritated man moved forward to take his turn. His frustrations mounted so that he could not get his credit card to work in the card slot.
Paige gently approached and asked, “Can I help you?” He pushed his card towards her and said, “Sure, give it a try.” The card once again did not work, yet, most likely due to having been tried repetitively. Paige felt he simply needed to go back one step and come around again to the payment screen, yet, his frustrations had grown too large for his patience.
After confusingly hesitating a couple of times to thank Paige for her help, the man decided to leave. He seemed to be torn as to whether to throw in the towel, expressing his thanks, and giving it another try.
Paige felt a wave of peace and compassion flow into her entire being as she knew in another time, another place, she had stood in both the man’s and the woman’s shoes.
She was also aware of times in the past when she had been deeply lost in her own thoughts and worries; times when she didn’t even notice that another being was in need of help.
After getting her packages posted, she departed with a joyful, peaceful heart with the hopes that anyone watching was inspired to spread loving kindness in their own way and their own time.
2016 Camilla Downs