Feeding Homeless -Birthday Wish of a Young Girl

I didn’t know that it was Ed’s 89h birthday yesterday.  Last Monday he told me that his birthday was next week.  I took him literally, thinking that “next week” started on Monday.    That was my assumption.  There were warning  signs that might have alerted me had I explored.   They were right in front of me, within reach.  Several birthday cards were standing at attention on the kitchen counter, but again, I took Ed at his word that next week was next week.

I invited myself to his birthday party.  It was going for a car ride with Ed and his wife Maxine to visit his granddaughter Jenny and her family, which included husband Sean and daughter Jedinne (her sister’s daughter whom she and Sean had adopted).  They had just purchased a new house.  I asked if I could join them, because I needed a break from a long tedious week of taking care of chores.   It was a long to do list with a break in the middle of the week to see the movie Lion.  Still, I needed something different, an adventure, a change in my routine.

millennial

I had met Jenny several times and really enjoyed  her company.  It was her Inquisitive  mind that drew me to her like a magnet.  She is a millennial, born between the years of 1982 and 2004.  I happen to like them a lot and  seek them out whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself.  I find them to be authentic, and driven by ideas and goals that serve others as well as them.  They are so themselves and no so concerned with appearances and and material things,  stuff that really doesn’t matter in the bigger picture.  This generation will probably play a big role in turning around the mess that we have created.  (Perhaps it is fair to say, in the defense of baby boomers, that it seems to me that each generation becomes a little more evolved and open.  So perhaps it isn’t surprising that this large part of the population is more open and “awake” than the previous two generations.)

similar food addictions

Jenny and I began talking about something important to both of us, healthy food and organic products.  She showed me a sugar substitute that came from Scandinavia . I eagerly took the bottle to see if I could understand the words on the back.  Yes, it was in Norwegian, a language that I am fluent in.  I was lucky.  I could read the ingredients.   Jenny and I continued to talk about our food addictions and the challenges.  As we sat and talked she enjoyed the birthday cake, upside down pineapple cake with whip cream.  I watched her knowing that if I said yes to a piece I might light a good sugar addict not stop eating sugar.

birthday wish- feeding homeless people

Suddenly, Jedinne, who had been playing outside came in and leaned on her Jenny and reminded her that her birthday was soon coming up.  Ed asked her what she wanted to do on her day.  “I want to feed some homeless people” she said.  Listening, I realised that I didn’t know how old she is.  She is tall and I started doing the math in my head.  She was adopted at three years and she had lived with Jenny and Shane only a few years.  My brain calculated seven.   My thoughts were interrupted by Ed who asked why she wanted to do feed them.  ” Because they don’t have food and don’t have a place to live.”

Jenny explained that Jadinne had seen homeless people not far from where they used to live and she began telling the adults around the table what she and Jadinne had decided they could give to homeless people.  The list included soap, a tooth-brush, a sand which and a few other things.  I was speechless. The two talked about how to logistically plan this and came up with small brown bags that could be handed out to people.

A young child wants to feed homeless people on her birthday!    She made my day!  What an inspiration!  I was so impressed and felt so good, a better high than the sugar in the pineapple cake that I didn’t eat.  Thanks Jadinne.  Hope to see you soon Jadinne.  By the way, I want to hear all about your birthday.