Karma

I'm always telling our kids these 2 things:

• We help people if we can
• We treat people how we want to be treated

And that is how we roll. Aaron is the go-to guy with our friends to help with home repair, we'll drive people to the airport if we can, I'm often dropping off meals for people who are sick or have a newborn. And people have done these things for us - some of the kindness that was done to us after Nora died I can never repay. But I do know how little things people do can sometimes be game changers. And sometimes may be the only nice thing that has happened to people that day (week, month!).

The last couple times I've driven my car long distances, it's had a funny shake/noise. I thought it was maybe the tires, Aaron thought it was the transmission. I finally brought it in to get checked - and damn it if is isn't $2300 worth of repairs that are needed (including new tires) that will take two days. I was stressing out about how I would deal without a car for that time. I called a friend just to whine about the money, and she was like - just take my car! I'm out of town. Perfect.

A few hours later, I was making dinner and realized that I didn't have a main ingredient. I called a couple neighbors and within 5 minutes had what I needed. They were happy to help.

All these people are nice to begin with, so I'm sure that they would have helped otherwise. But it makes me feel that my efforts to help them haven't gone unnoticed. It's a nice warm-fuzzy feeling, and also makes me feel connected to a community. I love living a life where my first thought isn't to pop into my car and go buy a bottle of Worcester sauce when I only need one tablespoon. I think to call a neighbor to see if they can help me out, because I know I would do the same thing if our places were reversed.