Kristin, that was so great! What a wonderful way to start my day, with a reminder to indulge in joy wherever and whenever I go. Yes, it's contagious and therein lies its power to change. Thanks :)
Kristin, after living through an experimental cancer treatment, my sister Barb was left unable to work for a living. When she was offered the opportunity to do a mission trip in India if she could come up with $3,000 - she was left thinking there was no way she could go. No way to raise the funds. "The only thing I can do is hug," she told me - and thus her adventure began. I designed a "Hugs Around the World" card, which could be filled out with a name - which also said "...cares about you," on the back - and for any amount of donation she promised to hug someone in India for the donor. After raising the money she needed, she was told that culturally, the people in India are not huggers and that it wasn't a good idea to go through with it.
I have heart-warming pictures of her there, with her arms around undesirables. Women she found along the way that no one would talk to. She hugged men and women and children and shared love around the world.
A few years ago her cancer returned with a vengeance and she knew her time here was limited. I designed a new card for her - a funeral card. It looked just like the original card but was in a different color. This time on the back it had her signature, with the words "cares about you"... and it asked the recipient to hug someone in her memory.
Asked to prepare a eulogy for her memorial service, I wasn't sure how much of that story to share, but sat down and wrote from my heart. I asked God to let me know if I was saying the right things.
Shortly after finishing, I left my house to pick up my car from the garage. A tire store. When I walked in, in a hurry to rush in and out, I noticed a young boy standing in the lobby. His hair was very thin, and I wondered if he was okay - thinking me may be a cancer patient.
It was a 2-second glance and I was on my way to the counter, when he looked at me and raised his arms, and said "hug?"
On Jul 22, 2012 DenisKhan wrote:
Warming this world
by our flaming hearts is better than to live in cold and windy world with stone
hearts –Juanita Rimkute