Dust and other Forwards

What goes around....

He almost didn't see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help even thought she had been there for the last hour or so .. was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you.

He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson."

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.

Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, "And think of me."

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. she had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be.

Then she noticed something written on the napkin. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: "You don't owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you."

Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard..

She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, "Everything's gonna be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson."

There is an old saying "What goes around comes around." .

.... Let this light shine. Pass this on to a friend.

Growing Older - Pros and Cons

When I was in my younger days, I weighed a few pounds less,
I needn't hold my tummy in to wear a belted dress.
But now that I am older, I've set my body free;
There's comfort in elastic Where once my waist would be.

The inventor of those high-heeled shoes My feet have not forgiven;
I have to wear a nine now, But used to wear a seven.
And how about those pantyhose - They're sized by weight, you see,
So how come when I put them on The crotch is at my knees?

I need to wear these glasses As the prints were getting smaller;
And it wasn't very long ago I know that I was taller.
Though my hair has turned to gray and my skin no longer fits,
On the inside, I'm the same old me, Just the outside's changed a bit.

On a positive note...

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Inside every older person is a
younger person - wondering what
the hell happened.
-Cora Harvey Armstrong

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The hardest years in life are
those between ten and seventy.
-Helen Hayes (at 73)

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I refuse to think of them as chin
hairs. I think of them as stray
eyebrows.
-Janette Barber

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Whoever thought up the word "Mammogram"?
Every time I hear it, I think I'm supposed
to put my breast in an envelope and send
it to someone.
-Jan King

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Things are going to get a lot worse
before they get worse.
-Lily Tomlin

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You know the hardest thing about
having cerebral palsy and being a woman?
It's plucking your eyebrows. That's
how I originally got pierced ears.
-Geri Jewell

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A male gynecologist is like an auto
mechanic who never owned a car.
-Carrie Snow

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Laugh and the world laughs with you.
Cry and you cry with your girlfriends.

-Laurie Kuslansky

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Old age ain't no place for sissies.

-Bette Davis

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A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
A woman must do what he can't.

-Rhonda Hansome

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The phrase "working mother" is redundant.

-Jane Sellman

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Every time I close the door on reality
it comes in through the windows.
-Jennifer Unlimited

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Whatever women must do they must do
twice as well as men to be thought half
as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.
-Charlotte Whitton

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Thirty-five is when you finally get your head
together and your body starts falling apart.
-Caryn Leschen

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I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes
several days attack me at once.
-Jennifer Unlimited

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If you can't be a good example, then
you'll just have to be a horrible warning.
-Catherine Aird

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When I was young, I was put in a
school for retarded kids for two years
before they realized I actually had a
hearing loss. And they called ME slow!
-Kathy Buckley

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You see a lot of smart guys with dumb
women, but you hardly ever see a smart
woman with a dumb guy.

- Erica Jong

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  If high heels were so wonderful, men
  would still be wearing them.
-Sue Grafton

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I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one
you can ride on.
-Roseanne Barr

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I think---therefore I'm single.
-Lizz Winstead

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When women are depressed they either eat or
go shopping. Men invade another country.
-Elayne Boosler

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Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
-Maryon Pearson

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In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man-- if you want anything done, ask a woman.
-Margaret Thatcher

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I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.

-Gloria Steinem

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- If men can run the world, why can't they stop
wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start
the day by tying a noose around your neck?

-Linda Ellerbee

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