Love is Mushy

Yes it sure is; and the Mushiness makes me smile. Why? Because it’s mushy feelings like these that remind us that we truly are alive. The opportunities we’re given each day to treat others as we’d treat ourselves are endless, and when one person decides to do it, a wonderful domino effect follows; a domino of mush-dom, if you will! J

It occurred to me the other night while sweating from my mountain hike, and scurrying around in the cold to finish errands before I could relax at home; just what gift-giving is really all about. It’s down-right gloomy without family during the holidays; it’s kind of like Valentine’s Day on full-blast, because it’s not just couples that are skipping about and in love, but entire families. Getting together, making, creating and purchasing gifts to share with each other, to share with their loved ones and relatives; pretty beautiful if you ask me; but what about the other people? All the lonely people, all the ones without the mush?

There was a woman playing a violin outside one of the shops I visited that night, and she looked ever so forlorn and disheveled but her music was pure magic. I stooped down with a smile and dropped a dollar in coins inside her violin case. But as I waited in line for the cashier I could see her peering inside with hungry eyes. I thought, perhaps I could do something a bit more? I meekly returned to her corner and asked if she was hungry or needed anything.

She was surprised, and shook her head. I asked again, but more sure this time, “It’s alright, maybe I can help you, are you hungry, do you need anything?” I smiled this time and she did too. She replied, “Well…maybe some peanut-butter?” I thought how peculiar, but nodded and raced back inside. I knew what she needed, some ‘Peanut-butter Reese’s’, but she needed something healthy too, I snagged a box of health bars as well. It wasn’t a lot. No warm three-course meal, or candles, complete with gentlemanly stare, but I figured it would hold her a bit longer and at least for the night.

Before leaving she asked where I was from (Yes, even vagrants ask me), she thanked me and I bid her all the best for the New Year. I feel it is like moments like these that we are called to be of service to our fellow-man. We need to give gifts of meaning to each other. Gifts of care, gifts of kindness, and gifts of love; yes the mushy kind. That is what Christmas is really about. Not a ‘gift-card’ but a gift of love; something free, something small, something real and true. Something we all have the capacity to do; yes, to be mushy like that! J

Merry Christmas! – The season of gift-giving, the gift-of-life, the gift-of-true-love! J