Day 343 - Play

Thought of the day: Our chiropractor is a pretty amazing person. She has not only a reservoir of knowledge of her field, but also of other related fields as well. She is well connected to the local homeopathic community and is often able to introduce families to a variety of practitioners ranged from doulas to massage therapists. She is a go-to person you can trust. Today I found out that she has a good heart as well. There is a very unfortunate local family that lost their house in the Fourmile Canyon Fire last year and then suffered an even worse blow this summer - a drunk driver hit them, left the father dead and his toddler girl severely injured. Our chiropractor went to the memorial service of the father and was so moved by the desperate situation of the family that she and her colleagues decided to do something for them. They donated an entire day of their work for the benefit of the little girl. I am glad to be part of it and I am grateful to belong to a community that's so generous in heart.

Photo of the day:

Izzy playing with blocks on the floor of a theater. The injured girl is even younger than her. I hope the little girl will be able to fully recover and enjoy a normal life soon.

Day 314 - Garden Path

Thought of the day: I met a very special woman for coffee this morning. She is actively involved in a micro-lending not-for-profit that gives out loans to poor Guatemalan women who would not otherwise be able to get loans through traditional lenders. Like so many other people who devote themselves selflessly to international charities, she has no personal connection to the country. She visited Guatemala some years ago as a tourist and witnessed the poverty and suffering firsthand. The story of a local woman pulled herself out of poverty enough to send her children to school really left her an indelible impression. The size of the loan she took out to have profoundly changed the lives of her family - a paltry 150USD every six months - left her an even deeper impression. After that trip, she got involved in the not-for-profit that gave the woman the loans and had been involved every since. There is a long list of needy corners in the world, perhaps including the very corner of earth we live in, and much of the need would not have been filled without people like her who are determined to make tangible and sustainable differences. I admire her perseverance as much as I admire her kindness and compassion. It was a refreshing and inspiring meeting and gave me another dose of hope for our future.

Photo of the day:

Lila walking on the path in Jasmine's piano teacher's garden.  Where will it lead to?  We often take unpredictable paths in our lives which can define us and make us who we are. They are by no means walks in the garden but they make our lives exciting, meaningful and worthwhile.

Day 171 - Daisy

Thought of the day: Our neighborhood has an annual progressive dinner event which we have joined for a few times.  Tonight we just had this year's progressive dinner.  The appetizer course was hosted in our home, just like last year, where everybody met for the appetizer before heading off to different homes for the next courses.  After having soup, salad and main entree in three different homes, everybody met again for dessert in another neighbor's home and concluded the evening.  It is a fun tradition which we always enjoy when we are able to participate.  It's a good opportunity to meet people, some of whom we will otherwise not have a chance to meet even though we all live in the same neighborhood.  One thing I observed tonight was that I was the only non-white person in the party - a situation that I had grown so used to in Boulder that I only realized it after the party was over.  There were a few other immigrant families present but they were all from Europe.  Come to think of it, I have only met a single non-white person in the past years of progressive dinners.  It was an Asian woman who became a friend of mine but she moved away two years ago.  Boulder is not a very diverse city, to say the least.  It was so ten years ago and, according to the latest census, it was still so today, despite of the national and state-wide trend of getting more diverse.  Another thing I observed tonight was that there were quite a few overachievers in the neighborhood, and some were more pleasant to talk to than others.  I think what makes a difference is the degree of humility.  A humble overachiever can be really interesting to talk to as you can have a two-way conversation where you get to hear some interesting stories and you get to share some of your own lowly thoughts too.  A not-so-humble overachiever can be self-centered, overbearing and difficult to communicate with.  I suppose this can happen no matter you overachieve or not, but it does demonstrate that being successful doesn't make you a wise person.  It takes a wise person to remain humble and it takes a humble person to be compassionate.  I wonder if this contributes to the curious statistics that while average Boulder residents make more money than average Colorado residents, we are less generous in giving.  I suspect this phenomenon will get worse before it gets better because the housing is Boulder is not getting more affordable comparing to the rest of the state and we may end up attracting even more overachievers to the city in the foreseeable future.

Photo of the day:

One of the daisies we used to decorate the tables for the progressive dinner.

Week 18+

You may have noticed that I have stopped writing about the weekly "deed".  It's very challenging to do something every week that would make a meaningful difference in somebody's life.  I am sure we all occasionally do something helpful, but will it really make a meaningful, long lasting difference?  Probably not.  In addition, I found it awkward to write about what I did.  And I also found it awkward to do something when I know that I may have to write about it.  So, in the future, even though I'll still try to do something every week, I won't write about it unless writing it serves a purpose.

Day 151 - Socks

Thought of the day: Sunday is a great day to relax, take a break, and enjoy the family time.  And that's exactly what we did today.

Photo of the day:

Socks for Japan - somebody in Japan is collecting socks to distribute to people affected by the earthquake and tsunami.  It seems like a legitimate operation.  We bought some socks and attached a note to each of them - a Japanese friend kindly translated the message for us - and will send them off tomorrow through a volunteer at CU. Some people may consider it a folly to send something as insignificant as a pair of socks when lives and entire livelihoods have been lost.  However, this is the only way I know of to send some words of comfort directly to the victims.  If it reaches but a single person and warms his body and heart, it would already be worth the effort.

Day 134 - Red Anthurium

Thought of the day: Today I was trying to figure out what to do with clothes that Lila had outgrown.  The best option is, of course, to give them away to people we know.  We have been doing that over the years but unfortunately we seem to know far more baby boys than girls and most of her clothes are not suitable for boys.  Other options are consignment stores where you humbly wait for a clerk to pick through your clothes and reject most of them because they are not brand name items, or Craigslist that is more hassle than it's worth for clothes, or yard sales where buyers expect to pay next to nothing for things - which would be ok if not for the time and energy a yard sale typically consumes.  Finally, you can always give them away to charities.  However, there is a myriad of charities to choose from - EFAA, The Parenting Place, YWCA, Casa de la Esperanza, and a bunch of not-for-profit thrift stores, each with its own charitable focus and efficiency level.  And that's just for kids clothes.  What about adult clothes, furniture, books, toys, electronics, cars, etc?  Donating used goods is more than just getting rid of them.  In the same way that you don't just give cash away to a random person on the street, you want to donate your goods to the right charity and get the most usage out of them.  What we need is a web site that connects donors to local charities with ease.  The web site would provide information on charities including their missions and ratings, the charities would indicate what they need at the moment, the donors would indicate what they want to donate, and the best matches between the donors and the charities would then be made.  I think people may be more open to the idea of donating their things if it becomes easier.

Photo of the day:

A red flower against a window frame.  Simple and beautiful - as everything should be.