We can

If you have it to give, give

That was advice given to me by a former coworker / boss who made a significant impact on my life. He was my cube mate at a job I started when Sassy was two years old and just a few months prior to my starting he and his wife lost triplet girls during premature birth. Very sad. They turned that experience into something amazing though by starting an annual charity golf tournament to benefit the neonatal unit of a local hospital. He always told me if you have it to give, give. Those words have stuck with me and we have given to various causes over the years. Of course there are other ways beside money to give - time and talent. I volunteer time at church and school, though not as much as I should. The talent part is questionable when it comes to running the kitchen for the annual school fundraiser, but I do what I can.

I started writing a post a couple of months ago about one of Chunky's friends, D. I abandoned the post because it was borne out of frustration with D's parent and I didn't think it fair. D is a friendly, polite and kind hearted boy. He lives with his parent and two siblings, all are half-siblings. To say they don't have much is putting it mildly. D's parent has a habit of calling us on the pretense of D hanging out with Chunky which inevitably turns into our taking him in for days. I don't like being manipulated or taken advantage of. And I'm a planner. Spontaneous play dates that turn into full on weekends are not how I roll. I haven't even mentioned the best part - the calls are always melodramatic with some over-the-top trauma or "opportunity". My personal favorite was the call to ask if D could come over in a couple of hours because his parent had an opportunity to go to a nearby casino as an overnight guest and they thought it would be awesome if the boys could hang out. Yeah, awesome ... that's the word I'd use. We received a call the other night that there was a family trauma and the parent needed to find a temporary home for the kids for a couple of days. Each of the kids was to go to a different home and they didn't have anyone to take in D. My first reaction was to say "no". I'm sure the generous, Christian response would have been to immediately say "of course". Well now you know my truth - I'm not a great Christian or that generous. I said I needed to speak with hubby first as I wasn't 100% sure what our plans were other than a charity walk. When I spoke with Hubby he reminded me of the giving mantra. We have the space and means, he's a great friend to Chunky and he really is a great kid. Besides, it may be good for him to be in a different environment. So tonight D arrived at our house in a taxi cab with bicycle, small backpack and his baseball glove. We will treat him like one of our own while he's here. Because we can and we have it to give.