Irene

Irene was my mother-in-law. By the time she got to be ninety, she had pretty much lived her life out as far as she was concerned.

She lived in a nursing home where her daughter Joanne was the boss. She also returned home to a little cottage next to Joanne’s on most weekends. Boredom and a lack of a sense of purpose made her cranky from time to time.

We struggled to figure out what to get her for her birthday. When you get to be ninety, you pretty well have everything you need. What you don’t need, you can’t use.

We wanted something special. We finally came up with the idea of buying ninety roses, one for each year. We packed them into the car. It smelled like a funeral parlour.

The roses were delivered to the nursing home and Irene was really pleased to receive them. It is not every day you get a dozen roses, let alone ninety.

The only problem with getting ninety roses is trying to figure out what to do with them. They were everywhere around the room. There were much too many.

Then somebody suggested to Irene that she could give most of them away to the other patients, keeping only a few for herself.

So that is what she did. She walked up to people all around the nursing home giving away her roses. As she saw the smiles of the other patients, we became aware that we had bought the perfect gift. The roses were nice, fit the occasion and were appreciated, but the real gift was the joy that Irene had giving to others knowing that she was making their day just a bit brighter.

You can experience that same joy. Get out there and give whatever you can, be it small or big. If it makes somebody’s day brighter, then it is priceless.