where words and images and days meet up

i love when the most random things seem to unite into a theme for my day.




today it was my completely on-a-whim decision to take photos of a fountain at an outdoor mall that i took isaac to for lunch on our way home from a meeting. i hoped to get something that showed how pretty the water looked all glittery-like in the sun.

i'm happy with the photo i took. but what i really like is when i find a quote to go with the photos i take... something a little more reflective on life than just an image of something... of a fountain like this one. fountains are a dime a dozen.

so are quotes about fountains... quotes about anything, actually. {you have to love google for delivering just about anything in the way of quotes.} few are quotes on fountains and kindness, though... perhaps even only this one exists. so this was the one that simply had to accompany my photo. especially because, before i even got home to find the quote, i felt such an abundance of kindness surrounding myself and isaac throughout the day as we were out and about... before we left home, too.

the kindness of strangers every place we went... an unusual amount for some reason. {for example, i could have hugged and squeezed the woman who took our lunch order at panera for going out of her way to help me when she saw how much my hands were full with isaac... and that's just one example just in the time we were at lunch}. the kindness of an acquaintance with whom i am working with on a freelance job. the kindness of a friend who wrote me this morning, unsolicited, to apologize for not following through with something that i was waiting for her on {thoughtful might be the better word, but i think thoughtfulness is a form of kindness}. the kindness of a husband who was over-and-above helpful with isaac at a moment when i really needed it. laced throughout my day at every turn, it's as though kindness was going before us and waiting for us everywhere we went. rare. i think we can all agree that there are days when it seems like we only encounter the opposite of kindness, and sometimes it's in return for ours. ouch. those days are the worst, especially for us thin-skinned. these days, however, are what restore hope that it's out there still.


and i love that, as young as he is, isaac witnessed it. he many not know the actual definition of kindness, but i'm sure he picks up on it when he sees it.

it's true what this quote says. simple kindness really does bring about a smile. i felt the corners of my mouth pulled up much of the day.

and a simple reminder to me... you don't have to just be funny to make someone smile {which is a relief to someone like me who did not get the witty gene in my family}... you just have to be kind. sound simplistic maybe. but it shouldn't be any more complicated than that, no? and like a fountain, your kindness will trickle down from those you bless with it to others they encounter. love that!!


wouldn't it be nice if we could all just splash around in that all the time?

kindness is not a feel-good, flowery word for something that is bestowed by using more flowery words. it's a command {to be kind}. it is acts of intent. and though it might not always seem like it, it's real. it is an art. somewhat lost. but not gone. it's out there. and i received it today. so i had reason to smile.


but then, how could i not smile with this guy in tow...