Gratitude...

I am thankful for smiles. On Wednesday afternoons I join my father and mother at the nursing home where Mimi resides. Papa always sings for an hour and when I am in town I sing part of the time with him and visit with mom. When I arrived today, they had taken Mimi to her room to clean her up. She got to coughing and the threw up. So they were getting her cleaned up. She sat across a table from me. She was reaching for a piece of paper that was in front of me. It was a page out of a coloring book and from the look of red on her hand I figured it matched the bit of red on the coloring book page. I assume she had been coloring earlier. She was stretching to get this piece of paper so I gently pushed it towards her. As she saw it coming closer she looked up at me with those big brown eyes and in the sweetest voice said, "Oh, thank you!". Such a little gesture and such a great reward as a grin spread across her face and her eyes wrinkled at the edges with the smile. It amazes me that even with all that she has lost in abilities, some of the basics she still retains, like saying 'thank you'. How important to make sure we say that to each other, OFTEN. And then to remember that a smile just makes everything better. Such little gestures but so important. Thanks mom for another lesson.