Be kind. Be kind.

We're having another cold snap... and when we get through this one, it will be sunny and in the high 60s again. I am counting the minutes till that happens. But today... today was cold. Stupid cold, stupid rain, stupid weather.

Our regular mailman is out sick this week, and the substitute mail-girl has been delivering the mail. She was delivering around Christmas time also, during the cold snaps we were having back then. Each time I saw her, she wasn't wearing a jacket or a coat... just a sweatshirt over a blouse. I didn't say anything to her... I wanted to ask her if she had a heavy coat to wear when the weather turned stupid.

I didn't want to embarrass her... so I just took the mail and smiled and told her to drive safely, and I kept giving her little gifts from the basket I'd filled with Christmas grab-bag presents. Week before last, the mail-girl left a beautiful thank-you card in my mailbox. They were just little gifts... and to read her words, you would think I'd given her everything on her 'wish list.'  As I read the hand-written card from that girl, I sat in my kitchen wishing that I'd asked her if she had a heavy coat.

This morning, I saw the mail car going up the road... I knew it had to be L, because the regular mail guy drives a truck, not a car.  I was determined to run outside and thank her for the card, and luckily, she had a package to deliver that didn't fit into our mailbox, so there she was... pulling into the driveway. Within seconds, I knew just what I had to do.

I went outside to meet L by the porch steps and she gave me the package... today was very cold and windy and rainy... and she was wearing a sweatshirt over a blouse... no jacket, no coat.  I was all bundled up and I was still cold, so I knew she just had to be uncomfortable. I asked her if she had a jacket in the car... she said no, she had been saving up to buy one "but something else always comes up."

That settled it for me... I asked her if she could take a minute away from her deliveries and step into the house, and she said okay.

While she shut off the car engine, I ran to the storage closet for a black leather coat with fur lining... I'd bought it a few years before we left Clear Lake and I haven't worn it since we moved here. I have other coats that I do wear... this girl didn't have a coat. I had that black coat in mind weeks ago, when I was wishing I'd offered it to her at Christmas time.

When I walked back into the kitchen, L was waiting for me out on the porch... I asked her to come inside, and told her that I didn't want to embarrass her, and I didn't mean to be nosy for asking about her lack of a coat..... "I would like to give you this, if you'd like to have it...."

She looked at that black leather coat with such bright eyes... "This is a blessing," she told me. She saw the soft black fur lining and she didn't know what to say.  "Try it on," is what I said... and she did... and she looked beautiful, as if that coat had been made just for her.  The coat has a hood, also lined with the fur, and she put that up and she just beamed, and we stood there in my kitchen and gave one another the biggest hug.  "A blessing, a blessing...." is what she kept telling me.  I told L that the coat looked better on her than it ever did on me, and she smiled.

I watched her walking out to her car in that pretty coat and the day didn't seem so dreary and damp and cold and wet.  Looking at L in her new coat just made the sun come out for a little bit. It was just the right thing to do, and my only regret is that I didn't do this weeks ago.

Be kind. Be kind. Be kind. I can hear my Aunt Dolly saying that over and over when we were all kids... Be kind.  Such an easy thing to do.