Day 114 Question 114:

When was the last time you were moved/felt truly touched?

I keep having to push the topic aside of what I was going to write about because something else comes up that I feel that I have to talk about.  Yesterday was a day like any other…nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.  I say this but there were two things that happened yesterday that I needed to share because they completely moved me and melted my heart.  I am unsure of why we are here on Earth or whether or not everything truly falls in place the way it is meant to or if we all serve individual purposes.  I would like to think there is a meaning for all of us and even if we never find out what exactly it is, we are still able to live the majority of our lives in a state of happiness.  I felt today that these two things fell into the place when they did to make me appreciate life just a little bit more.

So, this afternoon I took the girls that I nanny out for a walk as I do every day after they eat lunch.  We pretty much follow the same route every day, meandering through the local church parking lot and into various neighborhoods.  When I was leaving the house today and pushing the stroller out of the door with the girls in tote I could faintly hear bagpipes.  The closer I walked to the church, I realized that it was coming from there.  There is a cemetery right next to the church that we pass on our walk.  I thought to myself that there must be a funeral service going on and I debated whether or not to even take that route.  I decided that I would and if I got closer and saw that there were a lot of people I would turn around and take a different route.  The closer I approached the cemetery I noticed that there was not a group of people.  In the distance (not far distance but far enough that he wouldn’t notice me stop and look), a man stood in front of a grave stone and played the bagpipes.  I stood there watching him and as his one song ended, he kneeled on the ground, kissed his hand and placed it against the grave stone.  He stood up and continued to play.  I stood there in complete silence and felt the tears swell up in my eyes.  I was truly touched by the actions of this complete stranger.  I assumed that the person that he was playing for was his deceased wife but in thinking about it I really don’t know.  It could have been a child that died fighting in the war or even one of his parents.  No matter who it was, it was very obvious how much love he had for this person and I found it so beautiful the way that he took time from his day to spend doing something that would mean a lot to the person that had passed.  It was a moment that made me realize how important the people are that I have in my life and even after they are gone, I want to not forget them.  I want to honor their lives in some way or another….in a way that would represent the special bond that we had.  That is what this man was doing and I felt so honored to have witnessed this.  A part of me feels like I just happened to be in the right place at the right time but in the moment, as cheesy as this even feels to say, I feel like I was meant to be there.  It was an exceptional moment to witness and I feel so lucky to be able to hold onto this memory.

The second thing that I viewed today was not quite as lucky as much as it was just plain moving and inspirational.  I am a HUGE fan of Ellen Degeneres and I am a Facebook junkie as most of you already know.  So, of course I am a fan of Ellen’s fan page.  I was scrolling her page today just to check out what daily funnies she had offered up.  I came by the video that I have posted below.  I will not give it all away because I want you to watch the video.  I will just tell you that the story is of a woman that was deaf until 8 days ago.  She had a very expensive surgery and has now regained hearing.  I realize that Ellen has a boatload of money and she can donate to anything she chooses but there is something about her that just seems like such goodness to me.  She just exudes love and kindness.  Ellen could do anything with her money and to choose what she decides to use her money for is so amazing to me.  I know other celebrities do the same thing but I admit I have a soft spot for Ellen….she just seems like such a real, genuine person and I admire her courage and her strength.  Check out the video below and let me know what you think.  And also, I would love to hear stories from your lives….what is something that has happened to you or you have been a witness to that touched your heart?  What was that one instance that made you feel so lucky to have experienced it?

Our lives are made up of a series of moments and sometimes those moments just fly right by and we don’t even have a chance to look back.  I realized today that sometimes I just need to slow down and look around because beautiful moments happen way more than I thought.  There are beautiful people that have stories to tell but we will never hear them if we don’t ask about them.  There are beautiful places to be seen but we will never see them if we don’t make the time.  There are random acts of kindness happening around every twist and turn but we won’t even notice them if we keep going at a wild pace.  Today I realized that I don’t want to miss out on the beauty that surrounds me every day.  I want to hear the stories of my fellow blogger and learn about my new found friends here in the virtual world.  I hope your day is filled with great surprises that make you smile!  All of my love! :0)