The other night I was rushing out for the evening and quickly stopped into a coffee shop. It had been raining and I realized when I walked in I had tracked mud on the newly washed floor. I apologized to the unkept looking guy washing the floor. He said no problem, it's my job and my place is like a swamp. I said I could relate as with my three dogs and all the rain, my yard at the moment looked like a swamp. He responded by saying, "no I really do live in a swamp". It was then I looked closer and realized he did look like a homeless person. He then explained the shop keeper allowed him to store his stuff there and make extra cash cleaning up the place to feed his friends.

"Wanna meet them?", he asked. He points to the side window of the coffee shop and I peer out and see two old dogs outside. "That's Ed, he's 12", he proudly tells me," and the other one is Charlie, and he's 7." The mall where this coffee shop is located is busy with Christmas shoppers so I feel safe going out to meet his buddies. I am touched that even with his limited funds he deeply cares for his two friends. They both have large "people sweaters" on them and are laying on cardboard boxes. He speaks gently to them all the while I'm patting the old dog with the grey muzzle. I notice his coat is very thin and he could have probably used one of the sweaters himself but opted to make sure his friends were comfortable.

Now just the day before my van had broken down and I had been muttering under my breath of the extra expense and the cost of a rental car just before Christmas. The repair cost were going to cost $$$. One of my neighbors, an old retired guy asked me for my keys and without me asking took it apon himself to make several trips to garages and then fixed it along with several of his mechanic buddies. He even paid for the parts on his charge card,and trusted me completely to pay him back. When I returned that evening, he and his wife invited me in for tea and homemade cookies. I was astounded at the mere pittance it cost as he had done all the work himself.

I had just purchased some reversable dog blankets for the van when I take my dogs for romps in the woods. One side is plastic, while the other is plush material. Ed and Charlie can use it more than my dogs as it will prevent the dampness from seeping up from the ground. Come to think of it, Ed's dad looks as if he can use a new coat and blanket himself...maybe some Christmas goodies for himself and the dogs..well you see where this was going.

As a result of my good fortune and the fact that I saved a lot of money I can pass along the favor to Ed, Charlie and their dad. Afterall, when you have friends the rest is just "stuff".

Chrystal

God bless you, Chrystal. Merry Christmas!

~michael

Yeah, Chrystal, Merry Christmas.

It's about giving, isn't it? As often as you can, as much as you can. I know.

That's great. Its always nice to help a person in need. Tell him Merry Christmas from all of us at the Café!

A lot of homeless men seem to have dogs as friends!

Good on you Chrystal. Merry Christmas.

Hi Again,

Thanks everyone for the comments. During the hustle and bustle of Christmas or other times in our busy lives we tend to overlook how much "stuff" all of us have, and sometimes it's nice to share. I was grumbling about my van and the old guy across the street saved me an enormous amount of work and headache involved, if I had to deal with it. Yikes! not this time of the year with so many shows and commitments to fullfill. He gave me the gift of his time and I was so grateful and humbled by his generousity. He wouldn't take any money for all the work he had put in. I mentioned in the above post I was just passing along my good fortune to someone else.

I have a van to begin with while this fellows loss of his vehicle caused the downward spiral in his life. In our brief encounter he explained he lost his income from self employment when his van broke down. He didn't have to tell me that he wasn't in a shelter due to his dogs, I figured that out and knew that others might not understand his devotion to his canine buddies. He didn't even tell me about this in a self pity kind of way either, but was sympathetic to me in regards to my van breaking down.

I returned the favor to Ed's dad. I spent hours visiting various stores, purchasing items with a lot of thought of what he would need.It might have been just as easy for me to stuff an envelope full of money (which I did as well) but I also gave him the gift of time. I wrapped each present carefully and placed them all in a huge sports bag and then left it at the coffee shop anoynomously. The gift tags said it was from Santa Claus and Santa Paws for the dogs. Keeping his dignity intact was important and I didn't want to get accolades for myself, nor cause him embaressment. I am writing about it here which sort of defeats the purpose of what I just said in some ways. However, I am doing it with perhaps getting others to think about passing along whenever they happen to have good fortune. :O)

Chrystal

Thanks for that heart warming story Chrystal. I think she's got it! Hehehehe....

I'll keep this on a positive note while telling you what a close friend confided in me. He's a wealthy attorney in Ft. Worth who overseas, get this, 75 other attorneys in a huge company. He does extremely well and gets what he wants - always.

I saw Michael this past November and he's doing just wonderful. However, this Christmas, Michael WILL NOT get what his heart desires. His mother passed last year and neither Macy's nor his favorite Nordstrom's has a copy of one of the greatest gals we ever knew.

His words not mine: "She was a once in a lifetime gift".

So tell and show those that you love - that you love 'em! And yes, *sigh* even those that are not so easy to love (you know the one's you could just strangle). Remember it's for you as much as it is for them.

Did I tell you I got "It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD now? It's a great movie for all times no matter where you are in life.

Happy Holidays! Cheers! Now where's my Jack and Egg Nog?

Merry Christmas!

Its Christmas eve! I just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!! And Merry Chistmas to "The homless guy and his dogs" Thank you Chrystal for being such a nice person.