When I Grow Up

There are people I encounter who are so pleasant to be around that I make a special effort to visit with them. They brighten my day with a story, a joke that may be a tad off color, but funny all the same or just with being all-around-jolly.

It encourages me to strive to be someone people want to be around. A speaker friend, Glenna Salsbury, said that her Dad’s main purpose in life was for people to say that they were glad they saw him. As I mourn the passing of some very dear people to me, it reminds me that I know someone like Glenna’s father, whom I want to know that I appreciate him, while he is still alive.

My 83 year-old-friend and I had arranged to get together after I returned from a trip in July. However, immediately after I returned home from it, I went to South Carolina because my father passed away. I’m getting ready for another unexpected trip, this time to West Virginia. I wanted to be sure my friend knows that I enjoy his company and I want to see him, even though he hasn’t heard from me.

For today’s gift I wrote on a postcard that I had not forgotten about him, but that I had been out of town. On the front side of the bright yellow postcard in large letters it says, “Laugh” and around the edges it says:

Let yourself go

Have fun

Share your smile

Howl at the moon

Worry less

Be happy

Laugh ‘til it hurts

Be silly

Tickle

Read the comics

Love your goofy life

Scratch where it itches

Jump for joy

My friend embodies the qualities on this postcard. I look forward to the next time that I will see him. In the meantime, when I grow up, I want to be perceived by others just like him.

In Giving,

Robin