The Trail

I was walking along a trail the other day, high up upon a ridge. There were trees and bushes all around with occasional pinion trees - very beautiful. Along the ground there were 

wildflowers growing. Occasionally there’d be a deer off in the distance. 

This is a nice old trail, not many people know about it. So there’s never any stuff or trash, no cigarette butts - nothing like that and it’s always and only a sense of peace and calm. In some places it’s so high that on days when there’s low clouds or fog it’s always moist, though I cannot see as far as I would like.

As a result, I came up unexpectedly on an old turtle and we both stopped and looked at each other as if to say, “I didn’t expect to see anybody on this trail today.” You know how you can look at someone who cannot speak your language and they have the same expression in their eyes that you do. We were both quite friendly but I had a little space where I was in the trail so I moved aside and let old turtle walk by. We nodded at each other with a nice look in our eyes. A pleasant surprise.

When walking on this trail I think about how beautiful things can be because this trail is like an old part of the Earth where things are the way they were, I feel, many many years ago. As I said before, I practically never see anybody else up on this trail but this day I came across the old turtle and somebody that I never expected to see.

There’s a place on the trail just around a curve on the path where there’s a stone that’s almost in the way but what it really is like, this big stone, is a nice place you can sit but you don’t see this stone that juts out over the path until you come up right on it. 

So I came around the curve and there sitting on the edge of the stone is a person who stood up when she saw me. I’ve never seen another person on this trail at any time so I was very surprised and I looked at her and she looked at me and we both sat down on the stone. We were both surprised. 

I was hiking up on the trail and I thought perhaps she had been coming down. I asked her where she was from and she pointed off in a direction. I wasn’t sure then, whether she spoke my language but I hoped that maybe she could kind of get it. 

She asked me where I was from and I pointed in a direction - normally I would just say - and we smiled at each other. Then I asked her, just taking a chance, “Tell me something nice about your life.” And speaking my language perfectly she said, “I live in an old part of Earth. It’s not far from here but you cannot find it from this trail unless you know just how to do it.”

I said, “I’ve been walking this trail for a few years and I haven’t seen any trails off to the side either up or down.” She said, “I know.”

We talked a little bit more and then she reached out towards me. I thought she was going to shake hands but when I reached back she reached up and it was like she was pointing at me but not exactly - she reached up towards my forehead and then things changed.

Everything sort of glowed gently and beautifully. I could see a golden aura around her and I looked down and I saw it around me too. She got up and made the signal to me to follow her and I - I just did. It seemed right. 

We walked up the trail a bit further and we got to a spot where the growth of trees and bushes was very dense. 

She did something with her hand. I’m not sure what because I couldn’t see all of it since I was behind her and suddenly there was another trail there that I had never seen before. We walked on the trail and we went up to this place. It looked a bit like a cave, sort of a small cave though it had a pretty tall opening. I’m not to tall myself but she was a little taller then me, not much but a little bit and she didn’t have to duck. 

We walked in to the space inside though it was really quite small. She walked over to the left and on the cave wall there was what I can only describe as color moving around. It was beautiful. Kind of like seeing a round rainbow in motion.

She reached up with her left hand and while she didn’t touch the colors she came close to touching them and suddenly, I can’t explain how, we were in this other place.

It looked a lot like the trail in that everything was pristine and beautiful. There was a lake and in the distance I could see a river that either flowed into the lake or perhaps the lake flowed into the river, I wasn’t sure but everything had that golden glow. It was so very beautiful.

We walked down towards the lake and when we got there she turned around and smiled. Then she turned back quickly and walked into the lake. I thought she was going to swim and I’m a good swimmer myself so I slipped off my shoes quickly and tossed my shirt to the side.

I noticed she went in to the lake with her clothes on but I thought, “Oh well, she’s modest. That’s actually a nice thing.” As we got deeper in the lake I was just ready to swim but suddenly she ducked under and before I realized it she was gone but in her place was a dolphin and the dolphin nodded at me and made that sound that they make that’s so cheerful and for no reason I could think of I just ducked under too.

Suddenly I was a dolphin and we swam and played in that lake and I never felt so wonderful in my life. We did dolphin things and we enjoyed ourselves. We jumped out of the water the way they do and twirled around. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. I discovered what the joy of living in every moment felt like. It was such a great gift.

Then suddenly, without any warning, I was standing back on the shore. I looked around and didn’t see her though I did see someone swimming away in the distance and I knew I wasn’t supposed to follow. So I was sad to see my friend dolphin leaving and I didn’t see anybody else around.

I picked up my shirt and tied the shoelaces together on my shoes and threw them over my shoulder. I didn’t know what to do because I couldn’t see the way out but suddenly I decided to look straight up and there was an opening to the sky I hadn’t noticed before. I had never thought of looking up because all that was around was so beautiful.

I could see that there was a pathway that I hadn’t noticed before because it was a bit higher up. I’d dried off now so I put on my shirt and shoes and walked up the path higher and higher still in the golden light. 

When I got close to the top I noticed that the path circled around above where the lake was. I walked up towards the rim that was open to the sky but the golden light started to fade and I didn’t want to leave it. So I went back down into the golden light and the place of the lake.

I sighed and thought how I am of an age where all my friends have passed away and I’m the last one left in my family. I’m very old and would it be so bad to stay here and pass the rest of my time away in this beautiful place. I don’t know if there is food but for some reason I don’t feel hungry. 

I walked further on past the lake and got to a small waterfall. I cupped my hands and made a bowl of them and scooped some of the water from the waterfall. It was beautiful and as golden as everything else. I felt it was safe to drink and I drank some.

The water tasted wonderful. I was still just as old as I was before but I felt wonderful inside so I took another swallow and the next thing I knew I was in the lake. I was the dolphin again and I was swimming with my friend and I knew I could stay there forever.

Happy New Year. May it be a golden one for you.

New Traditions

Jenny stepped out into the breezy hallway in her apartment building. Her mother said, “Wait honey, wait. Put on your scarf, it might be a little chilly.” Jenny ran back in and got her scarf, the one she liked with the blue bells on it, and then ran back out and went over and stood by the elevator. 

Several of her neighbors were leaving for work and they all smiled at Jenny. Now you might think that Jenny was going to take the elevator but she was too young to be going to work. She was waiting and you might ask what was she waiting for - we’ll get to that. 

Well, the people who were leaving got on the elevator and they all waved at Jenny and she waved back. The elevator doors glided shut and off they went downstairs to wherever they were going, Jenny thought. 

Jenny was smiling as she waited for her friend. She didn’t have to wait long. Soon the elevator made it’s little sound with a ding and the doors opened. Out walked her favorite person, besides mommy of course.

Well, he wasn’t exactly a person but to her he was. Out walked a cat. Nobody else on the elevator, just a cat and the cat walked right over to Jenny and put his paw up on her which always meant to pick him up and even though Jenny wasn’t that tall, she was only 7 years old, she managed to pick up eekoo and hold him and he would lick her hand a little bit. 

Meeting eekoo was her favorite thing to do every day. No one really knew where eekoo came from but they knew his name because it was written on his collar. 

Everybody in the building knew eekoo. Some people liked to give him food or treats but eekoo didn’t show up for food and he didn’t really go for it if it was offered - he would just look at you and blink his eyes if he liked you and then he’d just walk around the building. 

He came from the neighborhood and no one knew where he came from. Some people decided that he was a free cat and he lived where ever he felt welcomed. 

Sometimes eekoo would stay with Jenny and her mother and other times he would stay in other apartments in her building and he came to be known as the cat who came to visit.

Every year a few days before Christmas eekoo would show up with a bell around his neck. It was the only time he ever had a bell around his neck. It wasn’t on his collar. It was more like a necklace with a thin chain and a little bell on it. 

Always, eekoo would make sure to go on all the floors and run back and forth in the hallways. The little bell would make its little tinkle, tinkle and people knew it was eekoo telling people it must be Christmas time. 

After eekoo was done on all the floors bringing his cheery message he’d find his way out as always. The day after Christmas, eekoo wouldn’t have the bell around his neck anymore. 

People wondered for years, who was putting the bell around eekoo’s neck but one day when Jenny was 12 years old, she found out. 

Later in life Jenny always said, “I’ve never forgotten that day. It was just a few days before Christmas and I wasn’t really thinking about eekoo or anything else. I was just walking to school and up in the distance I saw this old lady. I’d seen her before and we always waved at each other.

“She lived in a house a few blocks away from our apartment building. I always looked for her when I walked by there because she was getting kind of old and I was a little worried about her. 

“I was walking past a neighbors hedge and the lady hadn’t seen me yet. I was getting ready to wave at her but when I got past the hedge I noticed she was bending down and I couldn’t exactly see what she was doing. 

“When the lady stood up, there at her feet was eekoo. He had run by a few minutes before when I was further away and paused just to blink at me the way cats do when they’re happy to see you and before I had a chance to pet him he ran down the street.  

“The lady was wearing her long winter coat and I couldn’t really see what she had been doing when she was stooped over. I thought she was petting eekoo but then eekoo ran back to me and he was wearing the bell around his neck. He looked at me and quickly blinked again and ran off. 

“Well, for years I’d been walking that way to school and I couldn’t wait when I was done with school that day. I stopped off and I was kinda shy but I knocked on the ladies door. She came to the door and she said, ‘I saw you this morning. You saw me put the bell around eekoo’s neck.’ And I said, ‘That’s right.’ Then the lady said, ‘I have something for you. It’s something special but don’t open it up until Christmas.’ Then she went inside the house.

“She wasn’t gone very long. She came back with a tray and some hot cocoa for both of us. There was also a box on the tray. We sipped our cocoa on the front porch and then she gave me the little box. It was all wrapped up for Christmas. She said, ‘Somebody gave me this when I was a young girl and I wanted to pass it on to you.’ ‘Really?,’ I said. ‘Really’, she answered.

“I remember, we sat and talked for a little while and the lady told me that her name was Mrs. Gibson. I finished my cocoa and thanked Mrs Gibson for it and for the gift and then I ran home to tell mom about Mrs. Gibson and eekoo. 

“Mom said it was okay that Mrs. Gibson had given me this present because she knew Mrs. Gibson as many others did in the neighborhood because they looked out for the old people to make sure they were alright.

“When Christmas came I remember opening up the gift from Mrs Gibson last. When I opened the box there was another box inside, a wooden jewelry box. It had a small carving on the wood of a cat. I opened that box and inside was a beautiful necklace and it had two small bells on it. On one of the bells was an engraving of a cat and on the other was a girl.   

“Mom said, ‘Oh my, that’s beautiful. It looks very old.’ I remember taking it out of the box and I just loved it. Mom said, ‘Oh look, the clasp - it’s also - yes, it looks just like a cat. Isn’t that amazing? Well, you’ll have to tell Mrs. Gibson thank you.’” 

Jenny liked to remember this every Christmas because she had a picture on her mantlepiece of eekoo, her beloved cat friend from when she was a child and every year around this time she’d have a dream. The only part of the dream she could ever remember was eekoo and he seemed to be smiling. Also she could hear his bell tinkling and she would wake up smiling. 

After that she knew what she wanted to do and she did so with her children. She had her own little girl now and a little boy too. She would take out the necklace and she’d walk with her husband and her children on all the floors of their apartment building and ring the little bell to let everybody know that Christmas was coming.

Merry Christmas to you all.

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Photo is © B. Kim Barnes, used with permission, and can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/kimbar/6865173881/in/album-72157627291278455/

Tilly and Bill

She thought back to the days of when they first met every time that she looked at that old frame, even from the side, with the picture of them in their heyday - very young and full of spunk - and they loved each other so much - she felt a surge of that love again. 

She wheeled over to get a little closer so she could see it better. The picture was in black and white because it was taken a long time ago. She remembered, "I think it was taken in the forties - yes it was the forties," she thought. 

The picture frame wasn't very fancy. It was a wooden frame but it was carved nicely. Her husband had carved it and made it special to fit the picture. The picture was big for its day, a portrait - and he made a special folding bracket in the back so that it could either stand up or be hung from a wall. That was not widely available then, not as now. 

Tilly got a little closer to the picture because she had to these days, and put on her special glasses for seeing things close up. She looked at it. 

There they were, young as could be sitting on the rail of the corral and smiling. Inside the corral was her favorite horse. She remembered that horse very well. She wasn't her horse but she was a good horse and Tilly liked visiting with her. 

That was the ranch that her family visited when she was younger, a teenager. That's where she met her husband. He was working at the ranch on a summer job and the two of them just clicked. 

They stayed in touch over the years through school. She went to college and he went to trade school and became a Farrier - shoeing horses - and she didn't realize then that their friendship would grow into something that lasted her whole lifetime. 

She didn't think he did either at the time but later on when they were married finally, she found out that he had always had his eye on her and had fallen in love with her - deeply in love when they had first met. 

She, on the other hand, liked him very much as a friend initially but over the years through college and the hard work and the study and onward afterwards to getting her medical license and becoming a General Practitioner just like her father - she felt through those years of study and working and practice that there was something missing in her life. 

She wrote weekly to her friend but the older she got and the more into her professional work she got, she realized that she didn't know anybody or appreciate anybody or really - by that time in her life - she admitted it - she didn't love anybody as much as she loved Bill. 

So, after she completed her residency she decided that she owed herself a trip and she took that trip back to Duluth, Minnesota where Bill had his Farrier practice and she didn't tell him she was coming. 

She figured that if she'd see him, if he was married, she'd smile and shake hands and shake hands with his wife and meet his kids and so on - she didn't know, she wasn't sure, she wasn't as confident as she got to be later - in his love. 

She went to his place where he worked on the horses and there he was - and lo and behold - she couldn't believe it - there was a picture of her on the wall next to his tools. 

He was working cleaning his tools when she walked in. Of course he was older and she'd seen a couple of pictures that he'd sent but he wasn't much into pictures although she liked photography very much. 

Tilly made a little sound, "Ahem" and he turned around slowly and his face lit up and his eyes were wide and he walked slowly towards her and there were tears at the corners of his eyes.

He said, "I was afraid I'd never see you again," and she said, "I knew I had to come." They hugged each other and she said without shame very quickly, "Are you married?" and he said, "No." And he said just as quickly, "Are you married?" And she said, "No." And he said, "Well, let's do something about that." Within three weeks they were married and they were married for fifty years. 

He had recently passed away and now a day didn't go by when she didn't wheel over in her chair and stop and look at that picture and know that true love lasts and sometimes it lasts even longer then you thought it would and sometimes it lives on forever.

Happy Valentines Day.

Something New

Long ago when the Earth was green and lush there was a small village high up in the mountains and in the village there lived a very old man. He'd lived there all his life and he had a very long and complicated name that no one could remember. He couldn't remember it himself very well.

So after a while people just started calling him Friend. He liked it. It was simple and uncomplicated and he was an uncomplicated person himself so he took the name on as his own.

Friend was very unusual in his village. He had the ability to dream and whatever he dreamt came true but it didn't happen in the way he expected.

He couldn't ask for things to happen and have them happen in his dreams, he had tried. It just happened when it happened and always in every dream with people whose faces he had never seen before.

He kept the dream experience to himself because he was worried about what people might think. And yet he treasured those dreams because he felt that something good always came out of it, for his dreams always had happy endings and frequently they were just as happy all the way through the dream.

He always knew when he was going to have a dream like that because when he was very drowsy, just before he went to sleep he would get this big smile on his face and he knew just for a few seconds before he fell deeply asleep that he was going to have a dream that would come true.

He didn't always know where it came true but sometimes travelers would pass through the village and tell stories of happenings in other villages both near and far and he often heard that one of his dreams came true nearby or sometimes far away.

One year Friend dreamt that little white bits of stuff were going to fall from the sky and cover the land - and the land had always been green of course - and then all the land would be covered and look white and everyone would be very happy. He woke up smiling and he thought, "What on earth can that be?"

Several months later a traveler that came through the village told the people a surprising story of these strange amazing little bits of stuff that fell out of the sky and was white and covered all the mountains and a village far, far away and there was a feeling with it. It was cold.

"Cold", murmured some of the people. They asked each other, "What is that?" And none of the people knew.

The traveler said that it was very like the breezes that would come through the mountain passes and would sometimes cause the people to wrap light shawls around them.

"Oh, oh yes," many of the people said, "We know now." For you see, the village was very high up but it was in a special place that never got very cold. It was always warm and comfortable except for those few breezy moments.

Listening to the story Friend thought to himself, "I would like to see this white stuff that falls out of the sky and is cold. I wonder if that could ever happen."

That night as he was sinking deeper into sleep and started to smile, he had a dream of a high place in the mountains that was white and people wore heavy clothes but they looked very happy and cheerful. When he woke up he was smiling as always though there was something different about the faces of the people this time. This was the first time he could ever remember that he recognized the peoples faces. They were all people that he knew!

He couldn't see the buildings very well in the dream, he could never really remember that too well but all the faces that he saw of the people who were all bundled up in these heavy clothes - they were all people he knew in his own village and he wondered what that meant.

This time Friend knew he just had to tell someone about this so he decided to tell some of his best friends whose faces he remembered were in the dream.

And of course, you know how it is with everyone. People like to know what's happening. So they told their friends and their friends told their friends and pretty soon everybody in the village knew about it and they all thought, "What fun, I wonder what that white is" and other questions like that. And everyone was excited that Friend could do this and no one thought he was strange or odd because he had dreams that came true.

Well it was coming on towards November and people started noticing way up high on the tops of the mountains that white was appearing and they didn't know what that was and they asked Friend, "What is that? Does that look like the white you saw in your dream?" He said, "Yes, it looks very much like that."

As it got further on through November the white covered all the mountain tops and was getting closer to the village and then even closer so by the time December started the white was almost at the village itself and several of the people climbed up the mountain a ways and discovered that the white was indeed cold and that it made everything glisten and sparkle and was so beautiful.

Towards the end of December at a time when the people celebrated many different holidays - such as Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa and special Sun and Moon days the white covered the whole village and made everything beautiful and because the people had time to see the white coming and knew it was cold they were able to make warm clothes.

They dressed in their warmest clothes and went out and enjoyed the white and enjoyed the cold. They wanted to enjoy it because they had a feeling it wasn't going to last all year since it had just shown up in November.

The people were grateful for the white and they said how grateful they were because it made everything look so beautiful and it was a nice change from the way things usually were.

Thereafter in the years that followed right around November and December the white came and offered its unusual change of cold and beauty and the people were able to enjoy happy holidays and of course a white Christmas.

Happy Holidays to you all.

Decorations

"Grandpa?" "Yes Honey." "You said we were gonna decorate the tree different this year. What did you mean by that," said Lucinda.

"Well", Grandpa said, "I feel we need to decorate the tree with our intentions for this coming year." "What?" said Lucinda who was about seven years old.

Grandpa said, "Let me show you the decorations." He pulled out the beautiful glass globes on which one side was flattened and there were tags on some of the globes. The ones that were labeled each had one word on them. They read - honor, respect, appreciation, kindness, benevolence, generosity and understanding. There were also some that were blank but there were tags on there - just nothing written on them.

Lucinda said, "Grandpa, what about these? The ones that don't have anything written on them." "Well I wanted you..." said Grandpa, "...to decide what you would put on them yourself." "Ohhh," said Lucinda.

"Let me set you up at your desk." Lucinda's Grandfather had a little desk set up not unlike you might find at a school. Lucinda got comfortable at her desk and her Grandfather put the decorations in front of her with a selection of crayons so that she could write on them or if she wasn't sure how to spell the word she would say the words or feelings and Grandpa would write them on. Lucinda decided that she'd rather have Grandpa write the words.

"Well," she said, "I feel it's important this year for people to be patient with each other because there's been a lot of changes going on and I've noticed that it's really hard especially for older people..." she glanced up shyly at her Grandfather and then quickly back down again "...to um change easily. So I think - patience would be a good one. Could you write that for me Grandpa?"

Grandpa said, "Oh yes, I'll write that down. What color do you want me to use?" She said, "I think yellow would be a good color." "Oh yes I agree. Very good color," Grandpa said. And Grandpa wrote patience on one.

"And I've also noticed..." Lucinda continued slowly, "...that a lot of people including my friends families when I go over to their houses...when their moms or dads say, 'I love you dear' it's kinda quick and well...my friends told me that they don't really feel anything there and their mom and dad doesn't always pick them up or hug them as much as they used to. So I think - hugs would be another good one."

"Oh that's very good. What color should we write it in," Grandpa said. "I can write that myself,"said Lucinda.

She picked a brightly colored orange crayon and she very carefully wrote - hugs. You could read it pretty good because she was a good writer. "Very good," Grandpa said.

"Here's another empty one Grandpa. Could I..." Grandpa said, "Oh yes that's another one for you. What do you want to write in there this time?"

Lucinda thought for a while and then she said, "Grandpa I feel that there's so many people in the world and they don't always hear each other even though people are talking all the time aren't they Grandpa?" "Oh yes, they certainly are," replied Grandpa.

Lucinda went on, "I think maybe people are talking so much they don't always listen and try and understand." "Yes, that could be," said Grandpa. "So maybe we ought to include - listen," Lucinda said.

"That's very good," said Grandpa, "I'll write that in or would you like to write it in?" Lucinda said, "Can you write that in Grandpa?" Grandpa said, "What color crayon should I use?" "Well...how about green," said Lucinda. "Oh what a wonderful choice," Grandpa said. He wrote in very carefully - listen.

"Here's another one. Can we write that in too Grandpa," Lucinda said. Grandpa quickly replied, "Oh yes, lets."

"I feel there's one more thing that people have to do besides hugging in families more and listening to people..." Lucinda said. "And what's that," said Grandpa.

"Well...I feel that people don't always say what they mean because they don't know how to say things - and I don't just mean kids like me," said Lucinda. "No?" said Grandpa, "What do you mean honey?"

Lucinda said, "I think that sometimes when grown-ups talk to each other they're sometimes shy. They don't know how to say things and so sometimes they either don't say things or they don't say what they mean. Do you understand Grandpa?"

"Yes." Grandpa said pausing to think about it for a while and considering whether he might do that sometimes himself when he was shy and didn't want to really say what he wanted or needed. "What a wise little one,"Grandpa thought.

"Is there enough room to write in something longer Grandpa?" "Well we might have to use a colored pencil for that so we can write a little smaller," Grandpa said reaching for the box of colored pencils. " "Well...I think it would be good to say - be honest and be clear," said Lucinda.

"Oh my, that makes a lot of sense,"Grandpa said. "What colored pencil would you like?" "Well," Lucinda said, "lets use pink." "Oh my, that's very nice," Grandpa said.

"Would you write that in Grandpa," Lucinda asked. "Oh yes I will," Grandpa replied. Grandpa wrote that in slowly and carefully so it could be read easily.

"And there's one more I'm thinking of Grandpa but lets make a game out of it." "Oh good," Grandpa said. "Well lets see, what's the first letter," Grandpa said.

"Okay, the first letter is - L." "Mmmm," said Grandpa with a studious look on his face, "I wonder what it could be?"

Lucinda laughed and said, "It has four letters." "Oh my, I wonder what that could be? I'm completely stumped," Grandpa said knowing full well what the word was.

"The last letter is - e," said Lucinda happily. "My, my. I just can't figure it out," Grandpa said enjoying the game. "Oh Grandpa," Lucinda said, "you know it's love."

She reached towards her Grandpa. He picked her up carefully from her desk and gave her a big hug and said, "Honey, love is what our family is all about." They hugged each other and looked at the tree and got ready to hang all the decorations.

What decorations will you put on your tree?

Goodlife.

Imagination Village

There's a village deep within the deepest tap root of the most gigantic tree, which is now a spirit I might add because the tree has moved on in life. The people in that village once worked with another being who is famous for the spirit of and gift giving of that time at the end of the year - I think you know who that is eh but these beings in that village are fond of creating something else.

They create costumes for they do love make-believe. They create the most fabulous costumes that help children the world over perform as they go about on Halloween.

They like to display nature - some of the costumes are like plants, some of course like trees, some look like butterflies, others like dinosaurs but a great many of them look like the tiniest little particles that you have to see by looking through a microscope like you do at school and other places.

The reason the people of this village like to make up costumes like that is that those tiny little particles all come together to make all the big things we see all around us and they even come together to make up us. So those people of that village feel very good about tiny little things, of course they're pretty tiny themselves so naturally they feel that way.

They also feel very good about bigger things, that's why they choose to live in the tap root of that giant tree - and they feel good about things that are in-between that size like you and me and dog and cat and other things about our size.

So you see no matter who we are, where we're from, why we're here or what we're doing we're made up of the same very tiny little things and it's good to know isn't it that we have so much in common and that we have beings that care about us so much that they devote themselves to nothing but demonstrating the values of the smallest parts of us while honoring us as we look in our world made up of so many things. Goodlife.

The Special Stocking by Robert Shapiro and Eileen Meyer

Once upon a time there was a stocking. It lived, at least once - sometimes twice a week, on a little girl's foot. Of course there was another matching stocking too but this one particular stocking had a definite sense of personality.

The little girl, whose name was Mindy, noticed it too. When she had that stocking on her right foot she felt like she could dance for hours; she could jump, and she could do so many more amazing things. Even though the stocking on her left foot looked exactly the same, Mindy didn't get that feeling from it. She always wondered what that was about.

One day the stocking seemed to want to lead Mindy someplace and even though she couldn't understand it, she decided she would go anyway. She wasn't really sure whether it would be alright, so she took her big sister Karen with her.

Now Karen knew that her little sister Mindy was very bright and very imaginative so she walked along with her and didn't press Mindy with any unnecessary questions.

Mindy kept walking decidedly in the direction where her stocking wanted to go. She turned a corner and stopped. She paused for a moment. Then she walked forward again, turned another corner, and then stopped again. Then she turned and faced toward one particular house and said quite assuredly, "It's in there."

Karen said, "Gosh, I don't know who lives in there. Do you know who lives in there?"

Mindy said, "No, I have no idea who lives in there but it seems like a cheerful house. It's all decorated very brightly for Christmas."

Karen agreed, "Yes, it's quite merry looking!"

Mindy motioned with her eyes and said, "Since you're with me - maybe it would be okay?"

"Yes, we'll just go up and ring the doorbell and see who answers," said Karen, who by this time had grown quite curious too.

They rang the doorbell and a nice old lady answered the door and smiled warmly, "Hello children." Then she looked down at Mindy's stockings and said, "Oh, I see. You're wearing the Christmas stocking."

You notice she didn't say Christmas stockings - plural. Mindy responded quizzically, "Is that what it is... a Christmas stocking?"

"Oh yes," said the older lady. "I'd know that Christmas stocking anywhere. Where did you get it?" the older lady asked.

Mindy said, "Well, my Mom got it at the Goodwill store for me."

"That's where it went," the older lady seemed relieved at having solved her mystery, but Mindy and Karen were growing even more curious. "Come in, why don't you children?"

The children hesitated because this was somebody they didn't know. "It's alright," she said, "we'll leave the front door open. My name is Mrs. Henderson, but most of the kids call me 'Grandma Henderson' in this neighborhood. C'mon in!"

"Okay," the children said, feeling very safe and welcome. Right away inside they spotted Mrs. Henderson's beautifully decorated Christmas tree, and there behind the Christmas tree was a row of stockings hung on the mantle. But there was something funny about this row of Christmas stockings. They were all neatly hung, looking so perfectly aligned, and then... there was a blank spot. Something was missing.

Mindy had to know, "Mrs..., I mean... Grandma Henderson, what goes in that space?"

"Why, the Christmas stocking of course!" Mrs. Henderson replied.

"Oh," Mindy said, cautiously pointing to her right foot, "Do you mean this stocking? ...because, well, it makes me so happy and I... I feel so good when I'm wearing it."

Mrs. Henderson smiled knowingly, "I do understand, dear, and this is what I'd like to do. It's up to you of course, but I think it would be nice if we could hang it up there just on Christmas Eve. Do you know why?" she asked enthusiastically, "Because that stocking is a magical stocking." Mrs. Henderson's eyes were happy and wide, "Do you know that stocking on your right foot helps to bring all the presents and treats to little boys and little girls all over the world just by hanging over there in that spot on that mantle? That's why it's always so happy and so peppy!"

Mindy was beginning to feel like her mystery was solved too, "Ohhhh, I see. I guess that would be alright."

"Oh, good!" Mrs. Henderson beamed.

And the next day, after having washed and dried her socks, Mindy went over to Mrs. Henderson's house - this time with her Mom because her big sister Karen had to attend Christmas play practice. Mindy and her mom knocked on the door where Mrs. Henderson happily greeted them and invited them in. Other children from the neighborhood had gathered there to participate in the annual event too. Mindy's mom watched proudly as Grandma Henderson and Mindy carefully hung up the Christmas stocking in its proper place. And soon it was as if the whole house changed.

There was a sense of merriment and joy and happiness that no one had really noticed before. Oh, it had been beautifully decorated before, but now there was a very real feeling of magic, excitement and anticipation that filled the air and filled everyone there!

Mindy still felt curious, "Was this your stocking, Grandma Henderson?"

"Yes," she replied, "My friend was here cleaning up a while back and she didn't realize that it was a very special stocking. She took it to the Goodwill with a bunch of other things that I had that I wanted to share with other people. The children of the neighborhood have been very sad indeed. They look forward to helping me decorate and hang the special stocking every year."

"Oh," said Mindy thoughtfully, "so maybe I'm not really supposed to have the stocking."

"Oh no," Mrs. Henderson was very clear, "I think it's fine that you have the stocking now. And do you know, it'll never wear out? It's very special and very strong, and the matching stocking that comes with it is also very strong. I think you're the perfect person to have it, because some day... you know I'm getting older, and some day... you could become the person that hangs up the Christmas stocking every year so that all the little boys and girls all over the world will have all the presents and treats they want in their stockings." The children clapped and cheered because they agreed.

"Do you think I really could?" Mindy asked timidly.

"Oh yes, not only do I think you could, I think you're perfect for it!" said Mrs. Henderson.

As it turned out, from that day forward, Mindy went over on Christmas Eve to join the other children at Grandma Henderson's house where they would all hang up the stocking and celebrate another wonderful season of giving and good cheer. Until one day when Mrs. Henderson's house was sold because her family invited her to live with them in another small town a few hours away.

So now every Christmas, Mindy and her family invite all the children in the neighborhood over to hang the special Christmas stocking on Christmas Eve. This is so that all the little boys and girls all over the world will have all the presents and treats they want. And some day she's going to pass it on to another little girl. Maybe that will be you?