When I was seven years old, I had a Lionel train set, my best Christmas gift ever. However, by the time I reached my teens, the train had disappeared. My mom is a world class recycler and thrower outer. These days, I wonder if my grandchildren would get as much pleasure from a train set as I did as a child.
I carried that thought with me today as I began my Thursday routine which includes yard work for a friend who is battling colon cancer. Doug is just beginning his eighth and final round of chemotherapy and I empathize with what he and his family are going through.
I’m just grateful to be able to pay it forward this summer.
As I finished trimming a few branches from a maple tree, I noticed that Doug’s pruning shears seemed really dull. I decided to take them with me for sharpening and as luck would have it, the ding dong man (that’s what Terry calls the guy in the little red truck who makes the rounds of our neighbourhood about once every two months) was on our street when I got home.
“That will be $8 laddie,” the jolly Englishman said as he finished his handicraft. The arrival of the royal baby three days ago had him in a cheery mood.
As I reached for my wallet, I noticed our eighty year old neighbor, Tom, across the street. He was teetering at the top of a step ladder as he stretched to prune a cedar tree in his yard. I rushed across the street, my newly sharpened shears in hand.
“Here Tom, let me do that for you,” I called. “I just got these sharpened.”
As I finished giving the cedars a brush cut, Tom asked, “Hey Mike, do you ever go ice fishing?”
“Not really,” I replied, somewhat surprised by an ice fishing question in mid-summer.
“Well, I was just wondering because I have some ice fishing stuff I’d like to give away. I’ve got a five foot auger, three or four rods, lots of lures. I even have hand warmers.”
I’m not sure if Tom was just trying to be friendly but I said I’d try to find someone to help him out.
Later that day, I volunteered to drive my daughter Carolyn back to Hamilton after her short visit. It’s not paying it forward when you get to spend time with your daughter and when there’s a Blue Jay game to listen to on the way home.
I asked her if her boyfriend Chris might have need of some ice fishing gear.
“Let’s see,” she replied as she began texting. I forget that young people are always connected.
“He says he’s got a friend in North Bay who would love the stuff.”
I knew Tom would be delighted.
“Hey Dad,” Carolyn added. “Chris has a question for you. Would you like a train set? He’s got seven boxes of train stuff he’d like to pass on if you want it.”
Wow! What a surprise and the answer to my unspoken wish.
I could only think that God cannot be outdone when it comes to generosity. That and the fact that the track gauge for my ‘new’ train is HO, HO, HO.
Indeed, Christmas can come in July.
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