Live, Learn, Love... Laugh!: Poke a balloon! :)

So today was my Saturday shift at work. Usually work is nothing of consequence really, but I just had to write about today. I started the morning out by taking some arrangements to a Stake Center for a funeral service. I got to the place and started in with a large vase of flowers. A woman came rushing to hold the door for me and greeted me with a warm smile and “Good morning!” Then her two daughters, maybe 10 and 12, were so sweet to take me to where the arrangement went. They commented the whole way about how beautiful it was and how nice it was of me to do the flowers and deliver them for their Grandma’s funeral. They were absolutely adorable! And so sweet. The littlest one said to me, “Thank you so much Miss,” and then started to tear up! Ah! Adorable. I just kept thinking how proud their Grandmother must have been of them. Definitely smiling in Heaven :) I just wanted to tell them how much she loved them but I couldn’t quite find the words… I did get the feeling that they knew though.

I then had a casket spray and an easel to unload and decided (since the walk was a pretty long one around the building) that I would move the delivery van to the back of building where it would be close. I pulled around, got the easel out and made my way to the door. But of course they were locked. I thought, “Great, I’m going to have to walk all the way around and then back to open these doors…” BUT WAIT! Not so. A man came to my rescue and opened and held the door for me. He was so polite and kind and asked what else I needed help with. I told him I just had one more thing left and if he would just hold the door for me. On my next trip in there sure were 4 men holding the doors, one man following me thanking me all the way into the room, and a woman waiting in the room just gushing about how beautiful and perfect the flowers were. I asked if there was anything else I could do for them (feeling a little guilty because I had gotten so much from all of them and felt like I had given little in return) but they just thanked me even more, told me that we had really helped to make the day special, and wished me a wonderful day. Sheesh! What an amazing family! I walked back out to the van, only to find it GONE! Haha just kidding. I couldn’t help myself. Really though, one of the men had closed it all up (I had all of the doors open to get the arrangements out). And had started it and turned the heat on (it was a bit nippy, and raining outside). I thought it was so kind. Definitely not necessary on his part. I hope Sister Venice Kratzer knew what amazing family and friends she had. I can only imagine the kind of lady she must have been to have a family so kind and sincere. With all of the love I, just a stranger, was given from her family, she must have had SO much more and must have given much herself. It was really touching to me to see, that even in the midst of death and sorrow, these people were celebrating life and reaching out to others in love. I realized that’s something I need to learn better.

There was also another delivery that had quite an impact on me today. It was a balloon bouquet to a little boy celebrating his 2^nd Birthday. His grandparents had ordered it for him. I walked up to the door and rang the bell. A woman answered with a little boy at her feet. He looked about two or three so I chanced it and looked right at him and said, “Everett, these balloons are for you! Happy Birthday!” His eyes lit up and he did THE CUTEST little jump skip of joy and giggled. He was adroable! Oh my heavens. SO CUTE! I handed him the balloons as his mom thanked me and explained to him that someone sent them to him for his birthday tomorrow and they would read the card to find out who it was from. Then as she signed for the delivery, he set the balloon weight on the floor and most of the balloons were at his height and he started poking them, just giggling ang laughing. I couldn’t help but laugh with him. Laughter definitely is contagious. After that, as I drove the 15 minutes back to the flower shop (and with no good songs on the radio) I thought about all that I learned since I was two. I can’t even remember being two, so I must have learned a lot since then. But what I learned today is that I’ve also forgotten a lot. I’ve forgotten how to Poke a Balloon and giggle. Forgotten how to laugh at the simple joys of life...