Treetop’s Edges

For all of my life my nickname has been Treetop. My two nieces and nephew have have lived with me all of their lives. I call them Treetop’s Edges.

Every month my Edges and I go and do something fun. Usually it’s individually, but this month the two youngest wanted to see the same movie. So we decided to combine their special days. My youngest niece Holly (age 12), my nephew Zack (11), and myself started out for the movie theater. We were stopped at the traffic light just before you get on the freeway. That’s where I noticed, off to the side, was a car with the hood up. There was older man holding his head with frustration. I immediately had an idea to teach these littles Edges a life lesson of selfless-kindness.

Once the light turned green, I went thru it and immediately signaled to pull the car over. I then said to the kids. “Ok we have two choices.

1. We can get on the freeway and go about our fun day at the movies.

Or

2. We can pull over and see if we can help this man.

Before you decide remember, you must only help someone on the side of the road if there’s more than one of you and if it’s daylight. It’s very important that you are safe. If you choose this option we will not go to the movies today. We will only have time to help this man. I will leave it up to you to decide what we do.”

They looked at each other and immediately said “let’s help him auntie. We can go to the movies anytime. In that moment, I was so proud of them for being kind and only thinking of a person who needed help. They were not thinking about themselves and that they would be missing out on their day of fun.

We pulled up behind him, got out the car, and asked if there was anything we could do. He said he didn’t know what was wrong with the car. We could see he was very distressed and so I ask him how can I help you. He said “well I have to get to the store to get my mothers prescriptions. She is very sick. I don’t leave the house much these days, but I’ve simply got to get her medicine and some food.”

I introduced ourselves and said “we would be happy to take you on any errands you need to run today and then take you back to your home” He said “that would be amazing, but I have no extra money to pay you for driving all around town.” We told him that we would not be accepting any money from him and that we just wanted to help. The man then said “I don’t know how to thank you.”

So we took him to the pharmacy, the grocery store, and then to his home in the mobile home park just outside of town.

He explained that he been very sad recently, and that caring for a sick parent is so hard. He felt like he was doing this difficult task all by himself, but he knew it was what something that must be done. He didn’t want a stranger to take care of her. He then said that today when he was on the side of the road he looked up and prayed for a miracle. He was so surprised and grateful that we had appeared. He thanked us again for all we had done.

When my Edges and I returned home, we told their sister of our wonderful adventure. We talked about how it made us feel afterward. I talked to them about that feeling and that very feeling is why we are here. That at the end of your life, if you have done more for others that you have done for yourself - you have lived a rich life. Always lead each day with kindness. It was a great day for my sweet Edges. I hope that they carry this day with them always.

It was about ten years later I asked my sweet Edges if they remembered that day? They quickly said that they do remember that day and how they helped that man. They remembered how it felt. I asked them if they remember the name of the movie they missed getting to watch, and neither of them could. I thought that was wonderful that they youthful minds kept only the important things.