It's Nice to be Important but it's More Important to be Nice

I've been thinking a lot about being nice. Nice people rock. Nice people who are nice when it's hard to be nice especially rock, like the man who helped clean frozen whipped cream smeared all over my daughter's windows in sub-zero weather after a basketball game because some dumb boy thought this was a better way to say yes to a dance than flowers, a note or a phone call text. Did I mention that this was a game that my daughter had played in and his daughter had played in and that my daughter's team had beat his daughter's team in a close, intense game? Did I mention that he was visiting our school? Well, now I did. Thank you kind man. You rock!

Obviously I still have a way to go because I am still obsessing with the "dumb boy" who left the whipping cream on my daughters windows. Did I mention he did it again a few nights later because the first time it smeared and you couldn't read the yes?

The other day I was sitting on the couch looking at photo albums with my father-in-law. This is the man that has taught me a lot about what's important in life (people, not things), who is thankful and appreciative of the littlest things--going for a walk, a hug, gummy bears and apples. He is also the man that introduces me as his parent, forgets to wear essential articles of clothing, and occasionally shaves his eyebrows because he's just not sure when to stop.

As we were thumbing through the album, he came across this picture of himself.

He said, "I look nice in this picture; am I nice?"
I replied, "You are nice; you are very nice."
He then grabbed my arm, looked at me intently and asked, "Have I always been nice?"
"You have been nice your whole life," I answered.
He sighed a big breath of relief.

Forget that most of his worldly possessions are gone--that he can't remember how to use a telephone or turn on his t.v., and that most of the time he's not sure where he is or who everyone else is. But he's nice. That's important. When all's said and done, God isn't going to care about the big house he owned, or the amazing things he did as a chemical engineer, or all the exotic places he traveled, but He will care that Dad was nice. And he is. Very nice. I hope I can be as nice.

And, because we're talking about being nice/kind here, I wanted to share this post that my son made in our family blog:

When I got off work today I just wanted to spend time with my family.  Since it was Grandpa's birthday I felt like I should get him a present since I honestly can't remember ever getting him anything for his birthday.  On my way home I stopped at Golden Corral to grab a gift card and saw swarms of people headed for the entrance from all directions of the parking lot.  It kind of looked like a heard of Zombies from Walking Dead, many of the people with canes and walkers crept forward like they were going to eat their last meal.  I quickly parked and awkwardly power walked past at least 20 people only to find that many people already in line.  At Golden Corral the line moves so slowly not because of the restaurant but because of the of the people in line.  The Electric Scooter companies should stop airing infomercials and just work the line at Golden Corral.  Anyway that took a long time.  Leaving, there is that intersection, the one that was designed by Hydra agents implanted inside Draper City.  I literally hit all 6 possible lights red trying to get to 12600 it took 10 minutes to travel 500 feet.  (Can you tell yet what my rant is about?)

I met up with Bree and the kids.  We divided Bree got the cute one and I got the crazy one and I headed towards Neal's.  I felt bad since every Potluck I've ever been to with the Staker's I rely on the mercy of Mom, Danny and Joe's family bringing food I feel safe eating.  I stopped at KFC and it literally took 30 minutes to get a bucket of Chicken and a small French fries for Lila.  Awesome service and I really could write a whole post about that.  

I get home and Bree is having a girls night with some ladies in the area and our table that is a month old totally got destroyed by acetone.  I'm not sure it is safe to have that stuff in the house after seeing what it can do to our table.  

Anyway believe it or not the only time I got mad tonight was when I hit that sixth red light.  I want to be kind to everyone for that is right you see.  Old people doing what old people do at Golden Corral is life.  It is like asking a fart not to stink, a fart should stink(until we invent the pill and make millions$$$)

At KFC....when a 15 year kid, who drew the short straw or I think had a jerk of a boss make him be the one to bring out food that was delayed by 30 minutes...leadership at its finest.  I could tell he was just waiting for me to be mad and yell at him.  He was literally bracing himself as he apologized looking down at his feet.  I put my hand on his shoulder looked him in the eye and waited for him to return my gaze and said "Its okay.  It is a bucket of chicken and a small fry not a big deal at all.  Don't worry about it."  I had just got to spend 30 minutes talking, playing and walking around with Lila.  About 20 minutes into our wait Lila grabbed my hand looked me in eyes and said, "Dad, I love you.  Thanks."  With my busy schedule I don't get to spend a lot of time with Lila what a blessing to have those 30 minutes with nothing to do but wait and get to know my little girl better.    

The table is just a table.  With Lila it was just a matter of time before it was destroyed, the recent invention of the table cloth will solve all our problems.  Hey!  Alexx maybe that is why you just gave me a bunch of old table cloths.  

A lot of crap is going on at work that is making a lot of people angry.  At the end of the day is it worth it?  I don't think so. I hope I can be happy and kind to everyone because that is what I want from everyone and that is the right thing. 

Thanks Quin. Happy early Mother's Day to me!