I waited four hours for a delivery of mattresses today and sweated through my clothing doing so.
It was worth it. Absolutely.
The mattresses were an amazingly sweet donation from one of my fighters and today half of them were being delivered so I changed my schedule to make sure that I'd be there to experience it. I really wanted to see the Lil' Sistas' reactions and I wanted to make sure it went smooth, too. A four hour delay though meant I had to cancel my afternoon coaching but it also meant I got to chat one-to-one with some of the nuns and then enjoy lunch with all of them.
At lunch they got a seriously good giggle over my confusion on how to eat a dish they had served me. When I finally tried to eat it, I then let out why I had waited so long to eat it. I was waiting for someone to be the first and then a second person to follow and give me confirmation on how to eat it. Even after seeing two of them eat it though, I couldn't manage to get any meat off the bone.
Spending an extra four hours with the Lil' Sistas and the nuns that manage the place meant I got to explore it, chat with them all, and get involved in additional stuff, like the making of their Christmas cards. They made me a birthday card in a similar fashion -- rolled up paper glued in the form of flowers. I didn't realize just how much work goes into making one card though, wow. I sat down and had to be shown how to make it but even then, it was a struggle and time consuming.
When the mattresses finally arrived it had been a much anticipated arrival and I went running down the stairs with the girls all shouting and following behind me. Today 14 of the new mattresses arrived and tomorrow the remaining 12 will come. Setting up the mattresses though, I got to learn a lot more about the girls. Some of them have nightmares and one little one always wets the bed. The mattresses have a plastic on them and we decided to keep it on so to protect the mattresses from any unwanted accidents. Good call on that.
It was so great to hang out for most of the day but there was one part of my day that was a total bitter sweet moment. I took a picture of it too and posted on my Facebook. It was of a little girl's locker. They all have their own bed and their own locker where they store their stuff. One of the little girls wanted to show me something special in her locker but when she opened it up to show me, I was so distracted by just how little was in her lockers. She honestly must have only had 15-20 little pieces of clothing neatly piled up at the back of her locker. What she wanted to show me was a little decorated jewelry box that sat smack dab in the middle of the locker shelf. She opened it up and inside was a little bracelet she owned. It was just a string of beads but the reaction I gave was as if it was a string of the finest cut diamonds. She liked my reaction and looked so proud looking back at me. That's how innocent and naive these girls are. Many of them don't know how little they have because they don't know any different. They're grateful for what they have, something that I know a lot of us living a much more "material-filled" life can't necessarily say we posses. I envied her for her innocence and gratefulness but felt bad that I wasn't ignorant to just how little she has. That swirled in my head for the rest of the night, her having so little but being so happy.
I used to wish that I could do more for these girls and I still do but I now wish that more would help me to do more. So many people have so much but so what?! ...but these girls. They've taught me a lot about remaining grateful and being blessed. I've been so blessed by meeting them and I'm honored to continue to coach them. I just wish more people would get it, get the importance of helping others out.
If you have the chance to help someone then do it. You might be the blessing they prayed to God for.
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