Okay, so I'm walking the short distance to the bus stop and I pass the bank on the corner across the street from the stop. There's a young man working on the landscaping using a hedge trimmer and making a gosh awful lot of noise. He was wearing a bandana that was kind of neat (guess nobody says neat anymore...lol) and I've been trying to find some to send in care packages. I had some time before the bus came so I thought to myself, go ahead, ask the guy where he got the bandana. Then I thought....lordy, with all that noise he'll never hear me so I started down the street. Something made me stop and turn around and go back....I stood there and patiently waited for him to look up and I motioned to him to turn off the hedge trimmer. I asked him where he got the great bandana and he said, of all places, Wal-Mart. I thanked him and said I had been looking for some to put in care packages to soldiers.......well let me tell you....the guy's face broke into the hugest smile I have seen in a long time. He said thank you, thank you....maybe I got one of your packages. I told him I send through AS and he had not heard of AS (trust me, by the time we got done talking he knew all about it). I thanked him for his service and quite frankly in my excitement at realizing he was a veteran in disguise
I forgot to ask him which country he had served in.
Anyhow, he said he was so very happy to meet someone who actually supported the troops. I told him that my family (brother, SIL, and the kids) all think I am crazy for spending money on care packages. He said so many times he has met people who support the troops and that is where it ends...that simple statement... the don't actually do anything tangible to show their support. He once again reiterated that it is not what is in the box but the fact that someone actually believes in what they guys/gals are doing and realizes the blanket of freedom they are providing and cares enough to send a little piece of home, share a little bit of their heart. He said that he is now considered a disabled veteran because of damage that was done to his knees so he is out of the service but that some of his fondest memories will be the care packages he and his friends had received. He said please, please don't stop sending....no matter what you send, how seemingly insignificant, it's value is absolutely priceless to those on the receiving end.
Sooooooooo that was my warm fuzzy for the day....I rode the bus all the way to work thinking, you just never know who
you might find under a bandana and I really do think Someone had a hand in making me turn around and go back after I'd passed him by the first time.