Something really nice happened to me in Walmart last night here in Montrose. In fact, something similar occurred there a couple of months back and that instance couldn't have happened at a more opportune moment in time. As I was writing out my check for all of my goods, I heard a little voice cry out from across the way.
"Mrs. Renfro, Mrs. Renfro! Hello, it's me!"I looked up in time to see the sweetest little girl with dark hair, glasses and a toothless smile walking by with her family. I wasn't quite sure who she was but figured we must see one another in the hallways or on the playground at Olathe Elementary. I smiled and waved to her and told her that I'd see her in the morning. As she walked by, I heard her voice explaining to her mom who I was.
"Mommy that's Mrs. Renfro. She goes to our school. I see her all the time on the playground! She's a nice lady."
I had to smile when I heard her explain to her mom just who I was. She probably has never met the "cranky" Mrs. Renfro but it was comforting to know that someone thought I really was a nice person :) You know, I came into Walmart at the end of a long school day, tired and worn out with a list of things to get before I went home for the day. I'm sure that when I entered the doors of that place, I didn't have much of a "smiley" kind of face on. Nope, it was more a kind of "geesch, will this day EVER end?" kind of look. But I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass of the exit door as I left, and there was a little grin on my face at the thought that some child knew who I was and cared enough to say "Hello" to me. Her little act of kindness, totally unbeknownst to her, made my day. For in the least of things, in the littlest of things, I so give thanks.
I wrote in this blog a couple of years back of a similar experience I had back in 2012 in the final days of my confinement in a long-arm cast. I'm reprinting that blog post below, if you would care so to read. At the time, I was in month number 5 of wearing a long-arm cast from my accident in 2011 and I was tired and worn out from it all. But at the end of an extremely long day at school, a little girl had the power to turn my day around from the bad to the good. It was the "power of the human touch" at its finest of hours.
Have a great day everyone out there! This Colorado school teacher from the flatlands of Kansas loves each one you and is thankful that you are my friends. Where would I be without you? In a lot of trouble, that's where :)
From February of 2012~
One four-letter word
A short blog post this morning (and oh yeah, I can hear a couple of my good friends laughing about the idea of me saying very little, LOL), about the power of "one word" spoken at JUST the right time. It happened to me last night, at "my" 5th Street Dillons Store and I'm still wearing a smile on my face because of it. Here's why~
Because I'm a teacher and have seen literally hundreds of students over the course of the last 34 years, it's pretty common to go to the store and run into enough school kids to consider counting our "time" together as a regular school day. It happens to me alot, it seems~if not at Dillons, it might be Wal Mart or the Kwik Shop or anywhere else you can imagine! One of those "extra perks" of being a teacher is meeting some of the finest people around in the most unusual of places, KIDS.
So last night, as I was standing there debating the merits of whether to buy "chunky" or "low fat smooth" peanut butter, it happened. From the end of the aisle I heard it...."Hey, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Miller!!" I turned around to see them running towards me and instinctively I grabbed "old lefty" close to me (LOL) and shouted out a greeting to them.
They hugged me as if we hadn't seen one another in ages, but really it had only been a couple of hours since we were all in school together. That didn't matter to them, they were just chatting away as if there was no reason not to. Suddenly, around the corner, I saw a woman coming towards us. She was following all the noise, obviously their "mom". The oldest of the sisters ran over to grab her by the arm and bring her to where we were standing. And this is the where the power of one "four-letter" word was shown...
"Mama, come here! I want you to meet her~She's Mrs. Miller from school. This is the GIRL that teaches us how to read!"
I thought to myself, "Did she just call me a 'girl'? Hey, holy moley, I think she DID!" A huge smile broke over my face and as I looked into the mirror this morning, I'm still wearing it :) That little child had no clue last night just how tired, worn out, and low this "girl who teaches her to read" was feeling. I hadn't even made it home from school yet.
"Old lefty" was aching badly, it was 6:40 in the evening for crying out loud and all I wanted to do was just get the heck home. But there I was in Dillons, fighting the crowd and pushing my cart filled with way too many groceries and oh yeah, one other thing~BEING BLESSED by the "chance" meeting with two of God's little people.
You know, I probably have heard tens of thousands of words spoken in the last few days and most of them didn't even stick with me. Oh yeah, that must be why I'm always having to write stuff down these days, geesch! But the kind and innocent thought of a little 8-year old kid who said to her mom, "this is the girl that teaches us to read" is still with me, verbatim, now nearly 12 hours later. That's powerful!
I think this "teacher" learned a lesson about life while standing in Aisle 7 last night...and the lesson came from the heart of a small child...You will never know how much impact a word spoken for either good OR bad reasons will have on the lives of those you come across. Gives new credence to the old saying, "Keep your words sweet~because you'll never know when you might have to eat them."
So, my loving appreciation to that little girl who unknowingly and most innocently made my day end up so much brighter. For these, even the littlest of things, I do so give thanks to God above. I accept them with a heart, wide open.
Because I'm a teacher and have seen literally hundreds of students over the course of the last 34 years, it's pretty common to go to the store and run into enough school kids to consider counting our "time" together as a regular school day. It happens to me alot, it seems~if not at Dillons, it might be Wal Mart or the Kwik Shop or anywhere else you can imagine! One of those "extra perks" of being a teacher is meeting some of the finest people around in the most unusual of places, KIDS.
So last night, as I was standing there debating the merits of whether to buy "chunky" or "low fat smooth" peanut butter, it happened. From the end of the aisle I heard it...."Hey, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Miller!!" I turned around to see them running towards me and instinctively I grabbed "old lefty" close to me (LOL) and shouted out a greeting to them.
They hugged me as if we hadn't seen one another in ages, but really it had only been a couple of hours since we were all in school together. That didn't matter to them, they were just chatting away as if there was no reason not to. Suddenly, around the corner, I saw a woman coming towards us. She was following all the noise, obviously their "mom". The oldest of the sisters ran over to grab her by the arm and bring her to where we were standing. And this is the where the power of one "four-letter" word was shown...
"Mama, come here! I want you to meet her~She's Mrs. Miller from school. This is the GIRL that teaches us how to read!"
I thought to myself, "Did she just call me a 'girl'? Hey, holy moley, I think she DID!" A huge smile broke over my face and as I looked into the mirror this morning, I'm still wearing it :) That little child had no clue last night just how tired, worn out, and low this "girl who teaches her to read" was feeling. I hadn't even made it home from school yet.
"Old lefty" was aching badly, it was 6:40 in the evening for crying out loud and all I wanted to do was just get the heck home. But there I was in Dillons, fighting the crowd and pushing my cart filled with way too many groceries and oh yeah, one other thing~BEING BLESSED by the "chance" meeting with two of God's little people.
You know, I probably have heard tens of thousands of words spoken in the last few days and most of them didn't even stick with me. Oh yeah, that must be why I'm always having to write stuff down these days, geesch! But the kind and innocent thought of a little 8-year old kid who said to her mom, "this is the girl that teaches us to read" is still with me, verbatim, now nearly 12 hours later. That's powerful!
I think this "teacher" learned a lesson about life while standing in Aisle 7 last night...and the lesson came from the heart of a small child...You will never know how much impact a word spoken for either good OR bad reasons will have on the lives of those you come across. Gives new credence to the old saying, "Keep your words sweet~because you'll never know when you might have to eat them."
So, my loving appreciation to that little girl who unknowingly and most innocently made my day end up so much brighter. For these, even the littlest of things, I do so give thanks to God above. I accept them with a heart, wide open.
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