Random Acts Of...

This one’s for the troops… This morning, I witnessed a simple and touching “thank-you” to our nation’s bravest men and women. I was standing in line for a cup of coffee, with a man in a U.S. Army uniform in front of me, and a union worker behind me. As I’m waiting in line, the Army fella orders some breakfast, and when the total came up, the union worker zips past me and makes a beeline to an open spot at the register! At first, I thought, “Can’t he wait in line like the rest of us?” That thought was quickly replaced by joy when the union man thrust $6 to the cashier, telling her, “I’ve got this one.” After the slightly-dumbfounded soldier thanked the man, he said the act is twofold – one, to thank the man for his service, and two, to set a good example for his 9-year-old son and teach him how to say “thank you.” For me, it’s a beautiful reminder that giving back doesn’t have to cost lots of money – all you need is heart. Do me a favor this week and perform a random act of kindness for somebody: the way things are going lately, we all need the good feelings.

The grass IS greener… This summer’s sweltering temperatures did a number on my lawn. I’m not big on chasing brown patches with a sprinkler, and it seems that by the time I got around to noticing them there were just a few patches of green left on a carpet of scratchy, brown turf. I wondered, though, why the house across the street from mine – where I happen to know no sprinkler has ever been put into service – has a lawn that looks reasonably green. I wondered: Is their grass that much healthier than mine? Have they been secretly watering the lawn while I was sleeping or is it that the grass simply is greener on the other side of the street? So I took a walk over there, and guess what? From that vantage point, their grass was the same ugly brown as mine. Across the street, my lawn appeared green, or at least reasonably so. Can you explain that?

Sticky clips… I love a good refrigerator magnet, mostly because to me the fridge is a big blank canvas just waiting to be filled with photos, newspaper clippings and other bits of ephemera that make up my life. So imagine how excited I was when I found a long sproingy spring with a super-strong magnet on one end and an alligator clip on the other. Now my little scraps of paper, baby pictures and clever clippings bounce about. It’s added a whole third dimension to my fridge.

Back to school… Can you believe it’s Labor Day already? I know because the center aisles at my drug store have been cleared of all the coolers, beach chairs and umbrellas that just a few months ago pushed aside the Easter candy. Now that aisle is a sea of stationery: notebooks, markers and pens, memo pads and folders. I got to looking at the stuff and was both amazed and overwhelmed by the state of school supplies. It seems there’s a world of choices out there. Kids have pens that write in glittery colors, notebooks with colorful designs, erasers shaped like animals and it goes on and on. I hate to sound like an old-timer, but when I was a little girl there were black composition notebooks and No. 2 pencils. You got one notebook per class, a dozen pencils for the year and you cut your book covers from brown paper grocery bags. I remember one year our teacher made us ask our moms for stocking boxes which it turns out were the perfect size for storing ones test papers. Imagine sending that request home with today’s kids!
(Aunt Rosie wants to hear from you! If you have comments, ideas, or tips about what’s happening in your neck of the woods, write to me today and let me know the latest. To contact me, drop a line to Aunt Rosie, c/o The Long-Islander, 149 Main Street, Huntington NY 11743. Or try the e-mail at aunt.rosieli@gmail.com)