It's All In The Follow Through

Yesterday I ran some errands. As I pulled into a parking lot, a car approached from the left so of course I stopped. To my surprise he stopped too so I gestured for him to go ahead. He smiled and nodded a thank you and then proceeded on his way.

This was no grandiose courtesy on my part because clearly he had the right-of-way but what made it special was his acknowledgment, his thank you. I felt so good after that little interchange. Somewhere inside I felt like if everyone could have an exchange like I'd just been involved in, the world would be a better place. Not because of my gesture - but because somebody appreciated my gesture.

Last week, we had house guests and that's always good but the special thing was that we had little house guests. Jack, who will be two years old in January; and Zac who turned two the end of June. I went back to the playroom with my camera and caught this shot that I LOVED!

Here was a little guy like Jack offering Zac his choice of crayons. That was awesome. But what made the moment really special for me, was Zac accepting the courtesy. I really felt like Zac's follow through made the shot.

Then Friday afternoon I mow-raked the entire yard - front, back, sides, and part of the vacant lot next door. What a job and I felt great about it. When Mr. Right got home, he grabbed the trimmer and trimmed around all the objects in the front yard and later on he commented on how nice everything looked. But he didn't stop there. During the evening, after he'd been outside, he commented that the lawn reminded him of how it looks in the summer when it's freshly mowed. For me, that was the follow through - the slam dunk. The first compliment was almost obligatory. The second left the warm, fuzzy feeling inside that we all love.

Those three follow throughs warmed me through and through; and when I think of them, I still get a gooey feeling inside because my heart melts a little with the warmth and loveliness of it all.

Maybe it's the follow through that we need to concentrate on to help make the world a warmer place.