unconditional friendliness

who would have thought that an infant has so much to offer in the way of life lessons? i have learned so much about life from my almost 5 month old baby daughter...who cannot speak a word...but who's innocent example speaks volumes. one of the things i have learned from her is that i should be friendlier to ALL people. she smiles at anyone and everyone. she tries to talk to anyone and everyone. now, while i will have to have many talks about "strangers" with her in the future, for now i am learning something from this. she does not see race. she does not see age discrimination. she doesn't judge someone because they look different, or aren't dressed as "normal" people should. for example, yesterday i stopped at wendy's on my trip back home from indiana. an employee was washing off tables, and this man had a very obvious mental handicap. he looked funny. he would be someone i wouldn't really try talking to or smile at. but there's my sweet daughter, staring at him and smiling...trying to talk to him. now, addie is to innocent to notice certain things about people at this time in her life. but what a lesson to learn from her. she is friendly to everyone. she doesn't judge a person by how they look. shouldn't I be more like her? shouldn't we ALL be more like her? what if we stopped staring judgementally at people who are dressed a certain way, or act a certain way, or look a certain way...and instead went out of our way to be kind and at least smile?
i think that would make a world of a difference!

home...

this past weekend kirk and i went to Milwaukee...where my parents live...so kirk could help my dad do some work on the house. the house my parents live in is the house i grew up in...since birth. they haven't moved, although they've wanted to for quite some time. it's an older house that needs quite a few updates, and my mom will be the first one to tell you, they'd rather torch it than fix it up. to anyone else looking through the house it would seem small, a bit outdated, and just an average home. but to me it's much more. eventhough my parents don't like the home anymore, i love it there. maybe it's because my daughter sleeps in the same room i did as an infant when we visit. or maybe it's because the walls of the home have basically watched me live my whole life up until i left for college. maybe it's the scent of the lilacs and lily of the valleys that fill the whole house every may. or maybe it's swinging on the swingset outside that stood there since i was a child. eventhough i have grown up and moved away, and have created a new comfortable home with kirk and addie, there's just something about the home i grew up in that has so much charm to me. it's safe....it's still home. many people never had the experience of growing up in one single home their whole childhood. but i am glad my parents never chose to move (well, not yet at least!). i still get to go back an visit...and be reminded of all the memories that home holds. i simply love it!