Today was the Cannonball Barbeque that was sponsored by the Evening Lyons Club and HyVee.
There are some elderly people that I try to do a little extra for when time permits so I purchased three tickets about a week ago and decided to use them towards a lunch for them. Well, I went there shortly after 11:00 am and they evidently were having some problems getting started as well as several traffic problems. I couldn’t wait around long enough for them to get things moving so I left and decided that I would get their carryouts later. I called all three of my dear old friends and told them they would have to make lunch for themselves and I would bring their chicken dinners to them at 5:00 pm. I had an appointment where I had to be at 5:30 so I thought I would be really mindful of time and went to the park at 10 minutes to 5:00. I’m glad that there was a great deal of community spirit and turnout but the traffic problems caused me to be later and later. By the time I got to the lady that was checking tickets, I was getting anxious and I know she could tell. Small chit chat but I did say to her that I was getting frustrated because I was going to be late for an appointment. She said, “Just a moment, I’ll see what I can do for you.” She took my tickets and nearly ran to where they were preparing the takeaways.
She was back at my car in perhaps less than five minutes. I was feeling a bit ashamed for saying anything to her because she went far out of her way for me. When she brought the packed dinners back to my car I told her I really appreciated what she did and also told her that those dinners were not for me but rather three housebound elderly people. She said, “Oh, such a nice thing to do.” As I was driving away, I was thinking just the opposite. What a terribly nice thing she did for me. When I encounter people like her, it encourages me to believe that there is hope for humanity. With each kernel of kindness grows a pillar of society. And yes, I delivered the dinners nearly on time and made my appointment one minute before 5:30. It looks like everyone was a winner.
