last night we chased the moon.


we chased the moon from out house until we arrived at basketball practice and still we never caught it, there was lots of "get in da carrrr moooon!" and even more persuasion, "come on moon, GET IN da car pweeeease?" and then we settled on "wook, caca, da moon followin' us!" and all was right with the world as one tire rolled in front of the other on our way to get chicken in a box.

chicken in a box?  what?  you've never heard of that either? that's what lil bit calls chic-fil-a. and she's a crack addict when it comes to them, just like the rest of us. every time we get in the car she looks at me with those big blue eyes sparkling, "chicken in a box, caca, pweeeeeease?" nine times out of ten it works, we go out of our way to chicken in a box.

because i am a crack addict as well. might as well start her young.

but as we were chasing the moon, all three of the kids and myself laughing together and having a good time, with literally not a care in the world, on our way to basketball practice and then chicken in a box - i couldn't shake the thoughts of earlier in the day.

earlier in the day, i was at wal-mart. the place we all love to hate, but still go back for more. can i get an amen? i was there with all of my other masses of grocery shoppers, christmas shoppers, clothes shoppers,  i'll stop---you get the point.

i was grocery shopping. throwing any and everything in the buggy. i didn't have a list, just getting what we needed. and since we were out of everything, really, if it looked appeasing to the eye it went in the buggy. that was my system. after the buggy was almost calling for an assist, i decided that maybe, just maybe it might have been a better move to have put the twenty or so lightbulbs on the top instead of buried under the pile of everything.  that's a whole 'nother blog.

as i was throwing in the christmas "special edition" pretzels with the white chocolate peppermint coating, i noticed a couple with their two kids grocery shopping.  they were dirty and their two very well behaved toddlers were too.  they had a calculator and a list and at closer look and with peaked interest some might call nosy i watched what they were doing as i threw ten more things that were not necessities into my buggy.  they were calculating each purchase as well as manually writing the total down, they were up to $27.89 and when i looked in the carts, i noticed they had a dozen ramon noodles, a bag of potatoes and some other stretch items that would feed a family of four for a while.  and all i could think about was, "i wonder if they are cold? if they are going home to a cold house.  do they have blankets?  do the kids have diapers?"  it was more than just keeping a budget thing, you could tell.  they were doing without and doing the very best they could.

and as i ran into them isle after isle, last i saw them they were up to $40.00, i couldn't help but be reminded of them, of some of my close friends that are really hurting right now, physically and emotionally.

what can i do?  what can i do to make their load a little lighter?  i can pray and am already.  
but at this time in my life, i am healthy, i am happy.  i have everything i could need.  i have a warm house to come home to, i am not hungry, i have a christmas tree up WITH light making the electric bill more and we are good.

everywhere you look, if you can get beyond yourself and your own circumstance, some one needs you.  someone needs a smile.  a "atta boy."  a oh, i really like your shirt.  a pat on the back.  a i am thankful for you.  a i love you.

and you never know who you might give that to that will make someones load that much lighter, or perhaps, save a life.

so as we chased the moon without a care in the world on our way to chicken in a box, i was reminded of all we had, all i have, but even bigger than myself, i was reminded to love.
to be kind, smile and to love people well.

7 comments:

Aubrey said...

sweetness.

Allison said...

1. amen.
2. I so call it the "buggy" and people think I'm crazy.
3. this breaks my heart, but is also the reminder that I needed.

jessica dukes said...

haha, i know. whats wrong with me...buggy? haha

Kelly said...

I know, it's so easy to forget how rough people have it right now.

Unknown said...

So heartbreaking to think of families that go without. Thanks for the reminder to be extra thankful and do all we can to help others.

Ashley said...

I struggle with this too especially in the winter and around the holidays. We try to sponsor at least one child and a family each year. Money is tight for us but it feels so good to do something.

jessica dukes said...

You are so right girls. So so right. We could all do something.

Thanks for the comments. :-)

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