as i see it.

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!" - charles dickens, a christmas carol

i've been spending some time volunteering this week. for a charity that is dear to me. helping those that are less fortunate. it's always a wake up call for me. and i always tell myself to remember how lucky i am all the year through. i don't always remember that message, but am always brought back to it at this time each year.

this year. as the other yulie and i volunteered together, two elderly ladies came in. they were dressed in their best coats, had their hair done and were clearly best friends and had been forever. it was a vision of us. in. well. let's say alot of years. i'm sure they hadn't planned on needing assistance at christmas time so long ago. but there they were. decked out and together. getting some help to make the holidays brighter.

they came in walked up to our table. presented their cards. one was 87 and the other 85. excited to get going. to pick out a few things to lighten their loads. and they were funny. bickering and bossing each other just as we tend to do. not in a hateful way. but in a way where you've known each other forever - like in steel magnolias. who can't love that movie?

but the common denominator. was they both needed each other. they came together. they left together and they enjoyed each other. despite their need. despite their circumstances. they needed each other...