Pay It Forward!

Pay it forward, I say!
My new philosophy. I've had a rough 2 weeks, witness my lack of posts. Kindermusik is back on my calender, registration is stressing me out, Charley is cute as a button, but insists that I hold her ALOT, I have no idea where we're living next year, (Zimbabwe, anyone?), Eva's right eye is totally swollen & I have a crappy cough & sore throat. BUT...
Many small kindnesses made their way to me this week. My bud Annie just took Eva for me on no notice because she knew I needed it, a Kindermusik Mom dropped off a lovely sake set for me, the Okuma reservations lady took pity on me & cancelled our reservation at the last minute w/no penalty, Lucia gave me a sweet thank you note & made my day. These are just the few that I can recall.
Background, if you will. Early this week, a young Mom-to-be called me about a stroller I was selling in Japan Update. I told her to come by when she could & I'd let her take a look. She dropped by the next day with her husband & they decided they wanted it. They were very young & very sweet, obviously so excited to have thier first little one. I decided I'd rather just give it to them than take their money. They were very thankful & I just told them that someday they could pay it forward. Not really sure what made me say it or think it, but I decided then & there that I wanted to pay it forward whenever I could.
I've discovered something living here in Okinawa. We live in a world where paying it forward is a novel concept. No one dares take the time to hold a door, say thanks!, help an overwhelmed or incapacitated person, wait their turn in traffic, the list goes on. But here, it seems as though paying it forward is a way of life for many. I love that when I had to have Charley early, so many of my friends just took over & cared for Eva, never expecting a thing in return. Then in the weeks following, my friends took it upon themselves to bring us a meal almost every night for 2 weeks! All of them have children of thier own, some were pregnant, moving, sick, or stressed out, but they took the time for a kindness. If we all paid it forward, how many lives would be better for it? It would be exponential, amazing.
PAY IT FORWARD!!!!!