Year of Kindness

My year of yes officially ended on my birthday in October as I treated myself to a massage in the Amsterdam airport on my way to India. But, since I was on the adventure of a lifetime that came about from a willingness to say yes, I decided to continue. Nothing but good things came from saying yes this past year so hit me up again this year. I will likely agree to what you ask as long as it is legal.

In addition to saying yes, I want to focus this year on being kind. There seemed to be a run of unkindness at work this past weekend...maybe it's a continuation from all unkindness in the nation this month. I was yelled at by a patient's family and felt like an idiot before 8 am. Two of my lovely coworkers were also made to feel less than awesome before the day was over. I know being in the hospital is stressful for people. It's hard to be nice when you feel miserable or a loved one is suffering. I have been there. I get it. BUT it's also not okay to take it out on the people around you. I know I'm been there too so that's why I am committing to kindness this year.

Since returning from India I have struggled with how to take my experience there and integrate it with my life here. My experiences with the kids and the people of India seem so removed from my every day life. It is so quiet and clean here. I have space to breath and move around. I can go for a run and drink the water without getting sick. I don't fear for my life when I get in a car.

It finally hit me yesterday the part of India that I miss the most that I did bring back...the joy and the kindness that was shared with me by all the kids and staff at the Good News Campus. I shook hundreds of hands and received hundreds of smiles. The kids thanked me after each medical exam. They giggled and smiled when we served them lunch. The caretakers wouldn't let us do any extra work if they could help it. We would try to fill water buckets for the bathroom and they would take them from our hands. We would try to carry boxes and they would take them from us. The caregiver, Agnes, that I worked with doing medical assessments wouldn't even let me pump my own hand sanitizer if she could help it. The joy and kindness that abounded was UNREAL. The kids and caretakers have SO little by our standards but they were nothing but kind to me.

So this is my takeaway. I traveled halfway around the world and experienced abundant kindness. On behalf of those 500+ beautiful children, I can take their kindness and share it with the people around me...even the ones that yell at me at 7:30 in the morning.

I find it easier to be kind to strangers, coworkers and friends then I do my family at times. My family knows me and loves me anyway. So, it's easier sometimes to be short or snotty because I know they are bound to love me still. BUT, I am going to work even harder on kindness here. I can't just commit to what's easier. My family deserves the best of me so I will try. I won't always get it right...nobody does. But I will keeping work on it. At least I have the surplus of 500 smiles, hugs and handshakes working in my favor.

Lambi Saans Lo

My favorite words that I learned during my time in India - Lambi Saans Lo - breathe deeply. I mostly used it when I was listening to the kids' lungs. On occasion I had to remind myself to do the same. You do have to be careful though where you choose to breathe deeply in India. Some areas are less ideal than others.

I have been back for a couple days now and have only just begun to process my experience in India. I am SO glad that I went. I was fortunate to be with an amazing group of people who were supportive, knowledgeable and encouraging. Friends and family at home were great about supporting my kids during my absence and it appears they did just fine without me - the same can't be said for Audrey's fish who didn't survive my absence. I always suspected I was the only one who fed him.....

The organizers of the trip prepared us well. All my clothes and suitcases were sprayed for bugs. I brought deet, antibiotics, ear plugs, toilet paper, two toothbrushes (in the event that I would forget and rinse the toothbrush in their unclean water and have to throw one out - wasting no time, I did this the first day I was there.) I stayed mostly healthy and came back bug free (I think) and with all my limbs (very sure).

What I wasn't at all prepared for was the emotional experience of being in India. I know there was a large part of India that I didn't see so I want to be careful about my generalizations. So, speaking to the part of India I did see, the experience was complete sensory overload. India was LOUD, dirty, crowded, chaotic and beautiful all at the same time. I have never been around so many people. I am amazed we didn't die in a bus accident. Lanes are painted on some of the roads but definitely not used. Horns are used ALL THE TIME. At one point we were driving (intentionally) the wrong way down the highway because our side was backed up. I'm not kidding. It appears this is acceptable. You just lay on the horn and drive.

I rode in a rickshaw and a tuk tuk - both very cool experiences. We took a boat on the Ganges river. The Ganges is a sacred river for people of the Hindu faith. There is a crematorium on the river where some Hindu's bring their dead and then throw their ashes in the river. This was definitely not one of my favorite sites but I felt like some of these experiences gave me a broader understanding of the culture.

The beautiful part of India? The 500+ children at Open Arms India's Good News Campus. Oh the children. Their smiles every day melted my heart. They were worth the 24+ hours of travel, the jet lag and the sensory overload. Most of the children are either orphans or are there because their family can't take care of them. They live at the campus, attend school, church, are fed and loved. I had the amazing privilege of working alongside the team to provide medical checks of each child. When we weren't telling them to breathe deeply and open their mouths to look at their teeth, we were playing, singing and hanging out with them. Their smiles were infectious. For children who have so little by our standards, they were so happy. They LOVED having us at their campus. They enjoyed the simplest things - tag, Simon says, hula hoops. One afternoon I hit a beach ball back and forth with about 6 teenage boys for at least 20 minutes. I couldn't help but think that Mason would be bored of this game in about 5 minutes. These boys would have kept going if our ball hadn't deflated.

I feel so honored to have lived among the children and caretakers during the week+ that we were with them. They taught me a lot about simplicity and love. Good things are happening at the campus and through Open Arms India. I don't think these kids would be safe, well fed and loved in the same way if they didn't have this campus. At my church this Sunday, Countryside Community Church, we will have information on the trip and ways to sponsor kids in India through Open Arms. They are doing great things and loving kids in India. I would encourage you to check it out.

So, how do I take what I learned and experienced and integrate it in my life here? I'm not sure yet. I think it will take time to figure it out but I know that I am changed by my experience in India. As I sit in my QUIET house, drinking water from my tap I have a new appreciation for what I have. I also have all the love from 500 children that I brought back with me. How lucky am I?