The First Day of the Rest of Their Lives
My sister got married last Saturday. It was a fantastic celebration of the joining of two families. 500 of their closest family and friends gathered to eat, drink and be merry. There was no expense spared – entire hall was rented out, musicians playing classical music as you entered, DJ for dancing, Frank Sinatra tribute singer, Belly Dancer, great food and beautiful flowers and decorations everywhere.
The best part of the evening for me came at the end of the night. First, we made it a point to make sure that anyone who was not fit to drive did not. Keys were taken and given to someone who was cleared to drive to make sure everyone made it home safe.
As we were cleaning up, I overheard people saying that all of the center pieces were going to be thrown away if people did not take them. They were such beautiful flowers that I could not let them just get tossed into the trash. I knew just what to do – I jumped into action and collected close to a dozen bouquets and put them in our vehicle. The next morning I called the local nursing home and asked if I could drop off the flowers for them to enjoy.
The woman on the phone was surprised and said, “Certainly.”
Seeing the smiles on the faces of the senior citizens and staff was priceless. It only took me 30 minutes to deliver the flowers – nothing in comparison to the smiles and joy on the senior citizens faces seeing all of the beautiful arrangements.
Which got me to thinking, “Why can’t we do this all the time?”
I have started to work on a program that will pick up flowers from anyone’s wedding and deliver them to a local nursing home the next day.
My point in telling you this is not to say, “Hey! Look at me!!”
It is meant to show you that if we all just take a few minutes out of our day, and think about a way to improve the lives of those people around us, the entire human race would benefit.
What are you doing today to make our planet a better place?
5 Responses to “The First Day of the Rest of Their Lives”
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June 15th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Hi Sensei,
Great job, We are going through some of our books and magazines, and stuffed animals, and because we go to the hospital again on Wednesday we will take some of those with us. They even take coloring book pages so we are trying to get some together. We know this because when we have taken Justin to ER this is what Justin and Vincent are given.\
We are also trying to get paperback books for the vets, which would just be thrown out if they are not sold, with their cover torn off.
We are also still trying to get some stuff for the MDA camp which is starting on Sunday.
Oh this month is HHT month both the boys have this and we are trying to send info out, even if we just do that and get emails back requesting info is fine by me.
Thank you for your support.
Christine Wilton
June 15th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Fantastic idea!!!
June 15th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
You Rock!!!! I will keep this in mind when I do the wedding cakes this summer and ask the brides what is happening to the centerpieces.
June 15th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
How cool! Awwww…. just remember to do this for us when we’re in one of those nursing homes! Promise????
June 18th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Sweet! When I do lemonade stands, it’s always for charity. I think I’m going to do the animal shelter next. Our last one was for the veterans.