SPARK ⭕ Smiles can make a heart drop - Seeds of Happiness
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SPARK ⭕ Smiles can make a heart drop

SPARK ⭕ Smiles can make a heart drop

July 18, 2024

I am a receiver, not a giver. 

At the place I work, working in the parking booth is one of the more tedious positions to have. You spend the entire day outside, saying mostly the same thing over and over again. Each interaction takes about ten seconds but somehow people still find a way to not listen to you. It wears on you. And unlike every other position here you don’t get many opportunities to make human connections. When I do I jump at the chance. 

It’s been sunny lately, which means everyone is wearing sunglasses which means the ticket machine is hard for people to see. The solution is to tell people “I recommend taking your sunglasses off.” I guarantee you I have heard every variation of comment that can be made after this recommendation: “That helps.” “Polarized lenses.” “Wow, I couldn’t see anything!” I’ve seriously thought about keeping a tally. I know it sounds like I’m a complete stick in the mud, but imagine being a pilot and every passenger tells you to not let your arms get tired while flying the plane. Everyone is looking for a laugh and you have to give them at least a chuckle, every comment, 8 hours a day. The first day is fine, if a bit annoying. The second day you’re starting to wish someone would come up with a better joke. The third you can no longer pretend to be amused.   It is honestly personal connection moments that keep me from losing my head.

The one this story is for started out like any other. “I recommend taking your sunglasses off.” A jokey comment. The woman says to me “I imagine it must get frustrating saying that all the time.” I pull off my own sunglasses and say, “you have no idea.”  “Oh yes I do,” she says. Really?, I think, you also work in the service industry? “Because,” she says, “I’ve become one of the people you have to say that to!” Im not recounting the dialogue exactly as it occurred - it’s been maybe 40 minutes since this happened and I’ve been interrupted several times. But this was truly funny for me. Truly fun. I could count the moments I’ve genuinely laughed with a visitor on one hand, and I’ve worked here for nearly three years. And I’ve never had a laugh in parking.

Then she said, “you know what, I’m gonna give you this.” I will admit my heart dropped a little there. Because I was expecting a religious leaflet or something. We get those a lot. One of my last genuinely fun conversations ended with a religious leaflet, and I was very disappointed about that. I’m already a Christian, you are producing trash. I throw those away without reading them. But I take it anyway, and tell the woman, “I’ll take this but you can’t hand them out inside.” She said, “I wasn’t planning to, and it’s not religious.” Oh! Color me surprised!

She drives into the lot, leaving me with a teeny business card thing and a sandwich bag with an orange rock in it.  Okay, let’s see what this is. The card had this web address on it, but I was more drawn to the orange rock. The clay seed. I turn it around, grinning from ear to ear before exclaiming aloud, “It’s a little man!!” I’m a sucker for little mans: Plushes, tiny action figures, carvings, even bugs. Little mans, all of them, and I can’t get enough.

I will go home today probably tired, probably a little frustrated. I’ll have to figure out dinner, which is its own task. Change clothes, give my dog her medicine, take my own, and resist the urge to play solitaire until I fall asleep. But now I have this little man. And I intend to show him to everyone.

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SPARK ⭕ I bet we can make you smile this week

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"Over 6 years ago I was in Florida on a family vacation, and had a tiny bit of a relationship growing back home. It was growing because of our similar interest in helping others and making a difference. I found your product in a nearby souvenir store and was completely smitten by your "seeds"... I bought a few of them... knowing that I wanted to give one as a gift to her, and I wanted to be able to give the gift of gifting as well... providing the opportunity of giving your message.

She was in tears... she had seen your product before and wanted to buy because it touched her heart, and the fact that I would feel the same became our glue. Now, as of September, we are engaged to be married. And that love of giving to others brought us together and continues on as we continue to "give".... and because it has been such as large part of our relationship and will continue into our future, I'm hoping that we can work this belief into our wedding favors.

What better way to thank our guests for coming to support our love than to give them the gift of giving... your Seeds of Happiness....that they are able to witness our love and use that to initiate the ability to give to others. I have visited your website for your product, as we would like to educate and inspire our guests about planting a "seed of happiness" for others.... for our [wedding] guests to witness the love that we have for each other, they are able to leave with the ability to "gift" that love to others.

They might need to provide encouragement and love to others, as they are going through their tribulations and trials in their present or future lives.

What better gift can we provide to our guests than the gift of giving? The gift of love and empathy. 

Thank you for your time, and no matter what, please know that we admire your product and it's message and use it as a foundation for our relationship and our future in every way."

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SPARK ⭕ Smiles navigating a path of grief MADD

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Our candlelight vigil for work is this Saturday.  I typically give the “opening remarks.”   Typically I say something about hope, etc.  However, this year I’m giving the closing remarks.  Our “token of honor” or gift to the families that attend are Seeds of Happiness. I just wanted you to see my closing remarks that I am going to read at our vigil.  As I know you know, I will never forget Dawson and always think of you!!

“I’m sure some of you are wondering about the two, bright red, small, balls you have received from us today.  Some of you might know of them, some might not.  The bright red balls are actually lumps of clay known as “Seeds of Happiness.”  Created by a local sculptor in St. Louis, their main purpose is to help put a smile on the face of anyone who needs it.

In June of this year KSDK ran a local “Feel Good” story.  While watching it, I discovered it was about a friend of mine.  In 2007 Paula and John Ivanowski, lost their young son, Dawson, to a battle with cancer.  These “Seeds of Happiness” were created by a local sculptor to help Paula and John put the smile back on their face after Dawson’s death.  While Paula and John’s son battled with cancer, their friend, the sculptor, didn’t know what to say to them during this difficult time so he did what he knows best…he sculpted clay.  It was that small act of kindness that started “Seeds of Happiness.”  He told them: "I know there is nothing I can say or do to make you feel better so I thought I would bring you some smiles to help you get your smile back.”

While the manner Paula and John lost their son is different than the reason we all gather today, the pain and grief we all share is similar… we grieve for a life that is forever changed or a life that is forever lost.  We wake up every morning wondering how we will continue through this day and the next.  We work hard on creating our new sense of normal in our lives, always wanting or yearning for our old normal back, even if it’s just for brief minutes.

As you can see we gave you two “Seeds of Happiness.”  One of the seeds is a gift we are giving to you, to give you a smile when you may need it.   The other seed we are giving to you is for you to give it to someone that you know who could use a smile. 

We many never know the impact that our tiny seed has on someone’s life, but together we can help others along their path of grief.  Please go and spread “Seeds of Happiness” in the world.

After we hear one final song from the Worship Team everyone is invited next door to the church cafe for a small reception.  From myself as well as all of our very dedicated volunteers and staff at the Gateway office, thank you for joining us today as we honor victims and survivors.”

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