Day 062a: The niceness of Nadine … (06/15/2019)
Nadine was a nice enough lady, to be sure – friendly and humble and gentle of tone & word. And yet niceness is not what stands out against today’s thick backdrop of the superficial and the callous. No, it is Kindness that shines most brightly in the darkness – the Kindness that had Nadine offer me the keys to the town’s church without hesitation the night before; the Kindness that had her organize a vegan meal and clean bedding for me that same evening, and the Kindness that had her showing up at the church doorstep the next morning just before I would normally set out; to take me shopping for new shoes (unsuccessfully, of course*) and to give me an impromptu tour of the stunningly beautiful medieval mountaintop fortress of Capolenac le Haut (located nearby) before I left … 😀
“Indeed the whole world is comprised of a multitude of miraculous blessings, and if every toddler can still see this simplest of truths, then the man or woman who cannot is in truth wholly lost. Even so, the lost can always find their way once more, and the toddler within all of us, although temporarily silenced, can without doubt be discovered again.” ~ via Luke Eastwood
*When my feet first ballooned to size 15 back when I in high school, going into shoe stores was a source of great embarrassment. Now that I am older and my feet have ballooned to size 18, going into shoe stores is always a moment of great amusement. Needless to say, despite Nadine’s ardent faith that we would indeed find shoes for me that morning, we were met instead only by the incredulous gazes of astounded salesmen … 😀 … No matter, of course, as the shoes I had on ended up making it all the way to Chattanooga, and Nadine was able to know the Joy of selfless giving by providing me with three pairs of socks and a new rain parka that came in quite handy that very morning … 😉
;