Pearls&Grit

In this day and age, it is easy to get sucked into a pseudo-hermit lifestyle. We literally could fix up our lives to where we never had to leave our houses. Ever.

We can get our outfits curated and delivered.

Shaving kits will show up on a monthly subscription.

Amazon Prime will deliver anything you could possibly need around the house within two days: AC filters, garden hoses, dish scrubbers shaped like ducks…

Complete meal kits.

Actual hot meals.

All this comes to our door while we are deeply engrossed in our online social presences. It is actually a strange phenomenon. The lengths we will go to avoid going out and interacting so we can stay in…and interact?

This last week, we’ve had spotty internet connections. Couple that with a pretty small living space and lots of extra energy, we’ve spent a lot of time outside.

You wouldn’t believe the gems we have met.

The sweet little old lady and man who give the kids rides on their golf cart, take them to see the resident donkeys, and drop off enough mini-pies in the mornings to feed a small army. All they want in exchange is a wave and some hand-drawn pictures to hang on their fridge.

Then there is the lady next door who has several escape artists as dogs and if we weren’t outside, running laps to blow off steam, we wouldn’t get to chase each little Sweetie, Snookums, and Darling down and return them safely to their yard. We wouldn’t be able to talk (yell) with their nearly deaf owner about how often the electricity goes off, wherein the conversation always ends with a huge smile on the lady’s face as she scoops all the dear little dogs up and returns home.

There’s the mom down the row with a baby who is desperate for some interaction but would never dream of being so forward as to come over and ask to chat. But when we stop near her front yard to pick weed-flowers, she’ll come outside to take the garbage out and we will play with her chubby little man and compliment her hair-do.

GUYS. PEOPLE ARE GOOD.

I know there are some definite bad apples out there. We have to read about them on the news everyday. But like most things in life, the good far outweighs the bad…just, as a society, seem to always capitalize on the bad. It is hard to overcome that innate fear and almost fatalistic mindset “Well, if i just stay in and keep to myself, nothing bad can happen to me or my family!”

While that may be true, nothing good will happen either.

PEOPLE ARE GOOD.

Give us a chance. I firmly believe the more good we put out there, the more good we will get back, even if it IS just in our little neighborhood circle. Take interest in each other. Show real love, care and concern. Humans, as much as we try to squish it out, thirst for connection. Real connection.

Believe in the good. And most importantly, believe in YOUR good!