"HI, SHERRY!!!"

It was such a small thing, probably insignificant by many people's terms.

I have a lot on my mind these days, a job filled with stress and grief. . . have you ever had to deal day-to-day with PhDs who may be brilliant in their field, yet don't have ordinary "walking around sense" and who think the world revolves around them? I'm getting ready for a 4-day canoe camping trip. I am very much looking forward to it, but there is a tremendous amount of preparation involved, since I feed 5 people for the weekend. Then there is the news I received last Friday that my furnace is dead.

All these things were weighing heavily on my mind yesterday as I pulled into my driveway after work and stopped to get the mail from my mailbox across the street.

Then it happened. "HI, SHERRY!" I looked in the direction of that cheerful voice. There, sitting on the steps by their front door, was a young mother with her 3-month old and 4 year old. The little girl's face beamed even more when I looked in her direction and waved back at her.

If only for a moment, my heart was filled with joy that this little girl was so excited about seeing me. Gone were the things in life that were dragging me down.

I have often watched with a smile at this young family across the street. The parents are family oriented and spend a lot of quality time with those kids. And yesterday afternoon this small act of kindness on the part of this vibrant little 4 year old went a long way in making my day!