My number one son, Lando, has come to live with me and enjoy the company of his sister and nieces. We’ve also been sharing my work as a delivery driver. I drive, he navigates, which is so vastly more safe than doing it alone. Dashing is kind of a recipe for distracted driving. You have to evaluate and respond to order offers under a short timer; you have to read tiny text on your phone while driving, then punch an icon, all while trying to follow map app directions in unfamiliar areas that are, to add insult to injury, often in error. Yikes! So having a navigator is a dog-send, and it’s been really fun for us to spend so much time together, tho I know he must get bored senseless sometimes by my manic prattle.
But to get back to my Holly Day subject, I’ve also gotten to watch him interact with customers and restaurant workers, and am reminded of his spectacularly brilliant social intelligence. Since he was tiny, folks have been attracted to his warm spirit. He was always the peace maker with his boisterous boyish friends, and has always had a huge network of friends who love and respect him. I may have a genius IQ, but I am positively retarded when it comes to social interactions. I am a little envious and in awe of his skill. Women we’ve delivered to have called back asking him to come over after work and hang, struggling moms and destitute junkies have upped their tips after meeting him at their doors.
It’s so beautiful and I love him so much for it! What I’ve noticed, and what I’ve been trying, mostly in vain, to emulate, is the kindness he shows every one of these strangers. Always greeting them with a smile and brief remarks that show he has seen them, winning everyone’s hearts with his kindness. I suppose it’s just good manners, but what else are manners than kindness. Lan has such an open and soft heart, I think everyone must sense that.
Funny, we have serious deer overpopulation here in the Hudson Valley. We pass families of deer dozens of times every night. They love to graze on the lawns of big fancy homes, and are surprisingly adept at being attentive to traffic, tho we still often see their poor car-crashed corpses in the gutter. He loves meeting them and has been brought to tears by their lost lives, delighting in every doe and fawn we pass by the side of the road, greeting them gleefully and warning them to be careful. I may believe in compassion and kindness, but Lan embodies it.
Many of you may know the history of our lives together. He has had some pretty unfair challenges in his life, but I will always be grateful and proud of the beauty and grace he has brought into mine. Having the privilege of raising him has undoubtedly boosted my karma and made my grinchy little heart grow 3 sizes! Lan has been one of the kindest gifts the universe has ever given me. I try every day to be more like him: kind, and so should you!
HOLLY DAYS 