MONEY MAKES THE WASHER GO 'ROUND

The laundry money I'm using today has a story behind it. Everything does. I wish I could trace it back to its origin, follow all of the hands it's gone through, and see what has been made and created with it. See who held it in need, used it to make their dreams reality, and what great shoes were purchased with it. I would be amazed at the intricate loom that weaves us all together.
You cannot tell what a person is like by looking at them. I like to think I can, and I try because it's amusing. It keeps me entertained while killing time, stuck waiting on the tires to be aligned or the taxes to get done. In moments like these I do my best work, much to my husband's amusement.
"She's with him for the money." I say as a couple walks by. He looks double her age and she's checking out the construction worker across the road as her man adjusts his toupee, flashing his $1,000 watch in the sunshine.
"You don't know that." My husband replies, barely looking up from the Classified Adds. "Maybe it's his daughter."
"Nope. The body language is all wrong. Hup! I can see the huge rock on her finger from here. Yeah, she's a gold digger." I reply confidently.
I know it's mean. It's even downright a waste of time, but I love a good story, even if I have to make it up. I like to speculate. I am so in trouble on Judgement day....when I get judged for judging.
Well, the other day I went to Williston North Dakota, to do some shopping. I don't like driving up there, because it's boring. The only trees on the prairie, are the ones that people planted there. It's truck, fields, construction, and oil rigs. So I'd already made up some stories about the guy at the gas station. He was about 100, and he had tattoos all over his body. This guy probably invented the tattoo. He had them before they were cool. He was driving an old rusty truck and I'll bet his real stories would have blown my made up ones clean across the prairie.
We pulled into the parking lot of the "Economart" and my heart began to pound with anticipation. Every lady that I'd met in the last two months, had told me that this place was the best place around to shop. Especially for produce. Apparently Walmart Superstore had nothin' on Economart. (I saw the "Econo-Liquor" sign hanging near the far end of the building. Wow, these people could use some help in the catchy-name-department.
I was like a kid with a brand new pogo stick! I jumped out of the truck, grabbed little sticky kid hands, and streaked towards the entrance, Nascar style. I looked at my beautiful little 2 year old, that had just woken up from a nap and was still trying to put together muddled sentences.
“Oh my gosh, Tenesee!” Her hair was sweaty and matted in all of the wrong directions and her face was covered in strawberry juice! She'd fallen asleep after eating half of the package. She looked like a vampire, that needed a shower. For once, I had no brush, and NO wet wipes. I tried to run my fingers through her hair. No use. Now she looked like Ace Ventura, in a bad way.

We hit the produce section first. It's my favorite part. You can tell everything about a store, by it's fruits and veggies. It's like the business card. Disappointment quickly set in. UGH! $2.99/lb for nectarines?? They were .89 cents/lb in Montana. Head lettuce for $3.50!? Where's the Romaine? Are these women from the same produce planet as me? This is lame. Yes, the quality was there, but the prices were for the company men, not the roughnecks.

This is where I will interject a small disclaimer for the Bakken Oil Reserve. There is a nation wide assumption that we are all rolling in the dough over here. Yes, it's true that they pay well, but the retailers also know this. Housing is astronomical. Try $1,500 to $4,000 a month! The grocery stores know it, too. Food is so cheap in Idaho! I take this for granted while I'm there. Go to the store, right now, and buy a loaf of 7-grain bread for $1,69...because you can, people! It's $3.29 here...on sale! When I get home, I'm headed straight to the store, and I'm going to roll around on the floor, and purr.

I was standing in the fruit section, thinking about all of this, and sniffing an apple that was probably worth $2, when an older gentleman caught my eye. He had poofy, shoulder length white hair and was grinning like Buddha. He crossed over to my cart, passed over the invisible line of personal space, and put his hand on mine.

“I like to help people.” He said. His hand was cool to the touch and was still resting on mine, which was now gripping my cart handle in Mama bear fashion. I subconsciously moved my little cubs behind me and slipped my hand out from under his.

“Do ya?” I replied, wondering what was going through his mind. Was he a creeper or a scammer? I was ready for anything....I thought.

“Yes, I do.” He grinned at Tenesee. “Especially people with little kids. Okay buddy, where are you going with this? I readied my self to make an aloof comment and skedaddle down the aisle. He held out his hand toward me again. There were some $20 bills folded neatly in it. “Here you go,” he said.

“Oh, no! I a can't take that! No, you keep it.” I looked at his eyes and saw a warmth there, that I had missed the first time. I looked at the money. Of course I could use it. Who didn't need more grocery cash? Especially those of us that refuse to live off of Ramen noodles and Kool-aide just because they are cheap.

“No, please, take it. This is what I do. I like to give. Please! It's my blessing.” He pressed it into my hand and looked at the kids and smiled.

“Thank you, so much! That's awesome.” I took the money and thanked him again. Well, what could it hurt? I hadn't met him on Craigslist and he wasn't asking for my bank account number. This was just a nice deed and obviously I should take my 2 yr old to the store more often, looking like a wayward orphan.

He walked away, and I half expected him to disappear. Angels have poofy white hair, you know...and apparently very cool hands. I didn't stop thinking about it all day. I am still thinking about it. It is so easy for us to step across the “that's-so-wierd” barrier and do something nice. Just to do it.

CNN should take a week, or even one day, off of reporting all of the filth and nastiness of mankind, and do some stories on the wonderful and the good! I don't want to know about the evil choices that people make because of a series of bad decisions and events that have taken place in their lives. Rape, murder, and violence should not be the news that is spread around the world at mock speed. I don't watch the news. I skip the headlines on AOL that start out with, “Woman convicted of killing her children.” I will not and absolutely refuse to have it in my mind. It does not exist in my world.

“Well, Shoshannah, it happens. You can't ignore it. It's reality.”

It's not my reality. Imagine what it would be like if the news was all about miraculous wonderful acts of kindness and generosity? What would we be spreading then? Instead of going to work and saying, “Oh, man, did you hear about that wacko in Waco?” We'd be saying, “Hey, did you see that thing on the news about the poofy haired angel guy?”

My mantra for the week is: Love creates more love. The good is ever abundant. What I focus on becomes an intricate part of my make up. I want a good foundation to build on. I don't want rot and decay. There are so many great stories and information to pass around.

From now on, my stories that I make up are going to be about good things. That gold digger lady wasn't a gold digger at all. Her car probably broke down on the way to the nursing home to visit her Mother. The guy she was with picked her up because she was walking in heels and needed a ride. He was looking at his watch because he was late for work. Then he gave her his triple A card, as he dropped her off at the dealership, to get her car worked on. What a nice guy.

There are many ways to "fight" against the negative things in this world. If you want to start a campaign against something, then that is fine. It takes perseverance to make radical change. It takes changing laws and advocating the good to bring about better living conditions. But, I personally think it is very ironic, when I hear about a man that hated abortion so much that he shot the abortion doctor.! Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron? To murder so that no more deaths occur? If you don't like something, don't be part of it. Spend time doing and supporting things that you believe in, not hating people for doing the things that you don't.Maybe that guy should have spent a little more time loving the miracle of birth, creating a family, and raising some beautiful children of his own to make good choices and to enjoy LIFE!

We can curse and scream at the darkness. We can beg, plead, rebuke and pray. "Why is it so dark in here!?" But until we turn on a light...it will never go away. It's simple. It's beautiful. And, wherever you are, produce-section-20$-bill-angel-guy....thanks a lot for the blessing. You just made my laundry day, a whole lot brighter!