Check in and story

This is Hummingbird. I have been away from this blog for a few days on family buisiness, so now that I can I thought I would post a greeting and a short story of kindness. I was sitting in a hospital waiting room a couple of days ago and struck up a conversation with a soft spoken young hispanic man. He was there because he had a daughter who had just been born. He told me he had two sons from another mother who were older. He expressed interest in my family member who was there and we had a nice conversation about different things. His English was limited, but he didn't let that stop him from carring on a wonderful conversation with me and showed me pictures of his children on his cell phone. When I left, he stood and shook my hand as I departed, wishing me and my family well. He was kind, gracious and lifted my spirits while my concerns lay nearby.

Just a note.I am having problems with this blog showing comments. I have gone into the settings and I still am not sure why this feature is not working. I will work on it. In the meantime, the purpose of this blog is to share stories of kindness. Please send your comments or stories (for now) to warmstheheart@gmail.com.

Our First Story

Cardinal wanted to offer the first story for our blog. Here it is in her words:

Hi, this is Cardinal. This story of my experience at Christmas time was the beginning of us starting a blog. Hummingbird is the moving force for us, but it's a mutual desire to do it.

I have congestive heart failure. Basically that means that as the years have gone by, my enegy level has fallen. I was thinking how little opportunity I have now for helping other people. I just don't have the strength.

Well, late one December morning my husband and I went to Walmart so I could get my hair cut. There was only one woman doing hair, and she only had one customer. I waited about ten minutes there while she finished.

As the hair stylist was taking her customer's money, a man came in. He said he'd just driven 600 miles, and he was there for a wedding and he needed his hair cleaned up (yup, he did).

The stylist said she had one haircut before him and it would take about 20 minutes. At this point I recognized my opportunity to do something. I got up and walked over and said I could wait. (I didn't have a time schedule or deadline that day). The man was so grateful. "Thank you, thank you." She did his hair next.

We all three talked. It turned out he really was in a hurry. His niece's wedding was about to start as we spoke. Wow! I felt so happy that I really had helped someone, and maybe really made a difference.

The stylist went to the cash register to take his money while I waited for my turn. He left the store and she came over to me and said, "He paid for your haircut." I was stunned.

During my haircut, she said to me, "I think Christmas is going to be really good this year. This is the second person who has paid for someone else's haircut."

So not only did I get to feel good, but so did two other people. The stylist didn't have to tell me that he paid for my cut. And he didn't have to pay for my cut. I was happy, he was happy, she was happy.

What a great morning!

Welcome to The Water Station

Life is a marathon. There are many hills and valleys along the way. Sometimes we hit a wall and feel we cannot go on. There are those who stand at the water stations to give us a cool drink of water along the way. Sometimes we are the runner and sometimes we man the water station. We are two sisters who wish to share the stories about those who stand at the water station and help us along life's marathon. This blog is a format to allow others to share their stories.