Tag Archives: Kindness

Hole Leads To Whole New Beauty

by Woody

Imagine a teenager looking in the mirror while getting ready for prom and seeing an eyesore pimple. That’s the kind of chill I felt the other day when I put on my favorite pullover and spotted a small hole, impossible to miss, in the front.

Understand, I have had this wool, olive green, quarter-zipper, vintage Patagonia pullover for close to two decades, and have babied it for half that time trying to extend its life as long as possible. As a result, it has spent more time inside a dresser drawer than out in the world, which is not a good thing.

Also as a result, it has made more than its share of appearances at happy gatherings and special events, which is a good thing. The unsightly new blemish, however, promised to retire Ol’ Green from marquee billing.

While age finally claimed its youthful beauty, I did not want the small hole to get stretched and pulled and torn into a larger one. “A stitch in time saves nine” but, alas, my skill with needle and thread is limited to sewing a button back on a shirt. Meanwhile, my wife felt the emotional pressure of a surgeon being asked to operate on a loved one and begged out.

My next thought was to ask my dear Betsy Ross-like friend Kathy. I wish you could see her handiwork on Ol’ Green. Darned if her darning isn’t masterful. The interwoven needlework is nearly invisible.

In truth, I’m actually glad the repair is slightly visible. I say this after thinking about the Shakers who were renowned for their furniture design and craftsmanship, yet deliberately introduced a “mistake” into the things they made in order to show that man should not aspire to the perfection of God. Flawed, they believed, could be ideal.

Ol’ Green is now similarly ideal.

Navajos, echoing the Shakers, purposely weave a single imperfection into their handmade blankets. To their eyes this makes the blankets more, not less, beautiful. In his terrific book, “Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West,” author Hamptom Sides elaborates on this mindset:

“Navajos hated to complete anything – whether it was a basket, a blanket, a song, or a story. They never wanted their artifacts to be too perfect, or too close-ended, for a definitive ending cramped the spirit of the creator and sapped the life from the art. So they left little gaps and imperfections, deliberate lacunae that kept things alive for another day.

“Even today Navajo blankets often have a faint imperfection designed to let the creation breathe – a thin line that originates from the center and extends all the way to the edge, sometimes with a single thread dangling from its border. Tellingly, the Navajos call the intentional flaw the ‘spirit outlet.’ ”

Henceforth, I will take the Shakers’ and Navajos’ perspectives to heart when I wear Ol’ Green and embrace its repaired imperfection as a “spirit outlet.”

“Kintsugi” also comes to my mind, which is the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold and, in the process, making the object even more beautiful for having been broken. That is exactly how I feel about my beloved pullover.

From now on, instead of saving Ol’ Green for special occasions I am going to wear it regularly. And when future holes and “spirit outlets” appear, and surely they will, I may ask Kathy to perform her seamstress wizardry with gold thread instead of perfectly matched olive.

Ol’ Green-and-Gold will then be even more beautiful than ever.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

Two Stories As Sweet As Cider

by Woody

“One of these days in your travels,” Damon Runyon wrote, “a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear.

“But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an earful of cider.”

As a break from the earful of sour news we all get squirted with daily, here are two stories to give you a smile – one sent to me by a friend, the other by my nephew, authors unknown.

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“I was shopping in a big store and heard a loud crash. Multiple items had broken. Without even seeing what had happened, that much was obvious.

“I went to investigate. It was a shopping cart accident. An older shopper had misjudged a corner and steered her cart into a tall display, which came crashing down. It was quite a mess. Many items were shattered.

“The older shopper who had caused all this was on her knees. She was extremely embarrassed. Frantically, she was trying to clean things up. It was all her fault. She would make it right. People were gathered around her, doing nothing but gawking.

“Since I heard the crash, I felt I had to do something. I knelt down beside this poor woman and told her not to worry. I helped her pick up the broken pieces.

“After about a minute, the store manager appeared. He got on his knees next to us and said, ‘Leave it all there. We will clean it up.’

“The woman who was responsible said, ‘I want to pay you for all the damage.’

“The store manager said, ‘No, we have insurance for this. You don’t have to pay a thing. These things happen. It’s really nothing. Please don’t let this ruin your day.”

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“I’m not a garbage man, but my dad was before I was born.

“He’d found old fishing lures, a Bulova watch, but more importantly…

“My dad was the driver who had this one girl’s garbage route, and every time the girl would hear the truck she’d get all the last-minute garbage from the house and take it out so she could get a good look at all the garbage men.

“And she was interested in my dad. She even scheduled her radiography classes around trash collection day, just so she’d be home. When my dad noticed the trend, he’d often switch roles with one of the guys on the back of the truck so he could take the girl’s last-minute garbage from her and toss it in.

“This went on for months. One day, the girl’s father locked her out of the house and said he wouldn’t let her back in until she gave her phone number to one of the garbage men.

“Coincidentally, this was one day my dad was driving. She took the trash up to the guy on the back and asked him, ‘Hey, is your driver seeing anyone?’

“The guy yelled to my dad, ‘Hey, Keith, are you seeing anyone?!?!’

“And that is how my dad found his most valuable treasure, my mom, in the garbage. They’ve been happily married for almost 26 years.”

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I like to think – no, in fact, I know – these sweet-as-cider love stories and Golden Rule kindnesses happen all around us, and to us, each day.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

 

Complaint Department Is Closed

by Woody

If you were expecting 600 words of grumpiness, griping and cantankerousness today, read no further – The Complaint Department is temporarily closed. Seeing so many vaccinated smiles, naked of masks, safely out and about outdoors has chased away the stay-and-shelter blues and put birdsong in my heart.

Speaking of birds, the other morning I saw a blue jay perched upon a tall succulent plant – a cactus of some sort is my non-botanist guess – in my front yard. This made me a smile for three reasons: a dear friend says a blue jay sighting is a visit from a guardian angel; thus, I thought about my friend for a while; and, lastly, until that contemplative moment I had not fully appreciated how lushly filled in and attractive the drought-resistant landscaping we replaced our front lawn with a year ago has now become. I wish you could see it – with your own blue jay sighting included.

Blue Jay photo by Scott Harris

Our front desert garden in turn made me think of another of my friends who, when his own Complaint Department becomes exhausting, likes to say: “Sometimes I just have to walk away and look at a flower.”

His wisdom naturally reminds me of the late golfing legend, Walter Hagen, who similarly and famously advised: “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry, and be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

Better yet, don’t just smell the flowers but pick some, too. For example, no matter what your political views are the series of photographs taken last week showing President Joe Biden bending down to pluck a dandelion and then handing it to First Lady Jill surely had to make you smile.

Seeing these photos caused the high-definition digital video in my mind’s eye to instantly flashback all the way into grainy Super 8mm film, for that is how old this memory was of my 5-year-old self picking a fistful of dandelions on a warm summer day and giving them to my mom who, naturally, reacted as if they were two dozen long-stemmed roses.

One more flower-powered smile comes from an Instagram posting I saw the other day reading, unattributed: “My grandpa has Alzheimer’s so he has no idea who my grandma is, but every day for the last three or four months he brings her flowers from their garden and asks her to run away with him and be his wife; and every day she says she already is; and every day the smile my grandpa gets on his face is the most beautiful heartfelt thing I have ever seen.”

Here is another beautiful heartfelt thing I saw recently, again on Instagram, attributed to Ann The Distracted Gardener. “My 8yo in the car today: ‘Do you want me to throw the confetti in my pocket?’

“Me: ‘No not in the car! – why do you have confetti in your pocket?’

“8yo: ‘It’s my emergency confetti. I carry it everywhere in case there is good news.’ ”

60yo Me: Raising kids has been compared to tending a garden and Ann The Distracted Gardener certain has not been too distracted to raise a red rose of a son. Also, I must try to be more like this unhurried 8yo who obviously stops to smell the flowers and is always ready to celebrate each day like it’s New Year’s Eve.

Lastly, the image of that young boy reaching into his pocket and pulling out a fistful of confetti and then throwing it with delight reminds me of something my friend/mentor/hero Wayne Bryan likes to say: “Throw kindness around like it’s confetti.”

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Empathy Lesson Remains Wise

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Empathy Lesson

Remains Wise

Something my Grandpa Ansel told me long ago is surely a lesson your own grandfather or grandma taught you: “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”

Atticus Finch put it more poetically, and powerfully, in “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Speaking to his daughter Scout he said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Empathy, like COVID-19 vaccines, seems to be in especially short supply of late. Indeed, I was reminded of Atticus and Ansel’s words by a recent story in The Washington Post followed by an encounter I witnessed in a local parking lot.

I will begin with the newspaper account of a home in Long Island that kept its outdoor Christmas lights and decorations up well past the holidays. When February arrived, an anonymous neighbor sent a typed letter that was far from being a sweet Valentine’s Day card: “Take your Christmas lights down! Its Valentines Day!!!!!!”

In addition to lacking an apostrophe in “It’s” and grossly overusing exclamation marks, both far worse offenses than delinquent decorations, the scolding letter had the opposite effect than intended. Instead of 31-year-old Sara Pascucci taking down her colored lights and ornaments, house after house in her neighborhood put theirs back up.

This happened after Pascucci shared her personal plight with a Facebook group of local moms. In other words, others got the chance to walk a mile in her shoes – and learned they were heavy with grief.

In January, Pascucci’s father and aunt both died of COVID-19 within a week of one another. Her dad, by the way, was the one who put up her holiday decorations as he did each year. Moreover, this was the first year her 2-year-old son could really enjoy the twinkling lights.

If the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance – had a sixth stage, it might be Taking Down The Christmas Decorations One’s Father Put Up For The Very Last Time. Indeed, Pascucci could not yet bring herself to do so.

Sounding a little like Atticus and Ansel, she wrote on her Facebook posting: “No one really knows what is going on inside the house or why we didn’t take down the decorations. I couldn’t believe someone would do this.”

Also unbelievable, and happily so, was the show of support from her neighbors once they climbed inside of her skin and walked around in it.

From Long Island we travel to a parking lot with a view of the Channel Islands where a car pulled into a handicapped spot directly in front of the entrance to a store. Even though a blue-and-white Disabled Person Placard was in plain site hanging from the rearview mirror, the driver – along with his daughter, who seemed no older than 10 – was challenged by a rude stranger.

Instead of “Take your Christmas lights down! Its Valentines Day!!!!!!” The Rude Man sneered, complete with an abundance of exclamation marks: “You can’t park here! You’re not handicapped!! Where’s your wheelchair?!!! You’re not limping!!!!”

To his credit, the father shielded his young daughter and went inside the store without engaging with The Rude Man for he had no obligation to explain what disability – heart condition, back issues, fill-in-the blank – is going on beneath his skin.

Rather, The Rude Man needs to learn that trying to get under someone’s skin is not the same as climbing inside it. Had he walked in the father’s shoes, he might have understood the invisible limp.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Kindness By And For Two Vets

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Kindness By And

For Two Veterans

Having a column is a lot like owning a pickup truck – friends are constantly asking for help moving a couch or bulky dresser, or suggesting a topic they “just know” will be moving to readers.

My aging back does not miss my Datsun pickup. As for pitched column ideas, especially about people who have passed away that I did not know and thus have no personal story to share, my unwritten rule is to politely turn them down out of hand. Otherwise, I’d be writing a weekly obituary instead of general interest column.

Just this week I got two such requests. First up, my friend Tim told me all about longtime Ojai resident Bill Mors who died at age 97 on Jan. 16.

Bill Mors (photo from GCVF website)

It seems that after serving in the Navy as a “Fighting Seabee” and helping build airfields that helped win World War II, Mors came home and built a very successful construction business and also built a wonderful life with a beloved wife and family.

This past December, Mors added to his legacy by donating half a million dollars to the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation. This heroic nonprofit organization in Camarillo focuses on rescuing military veterans from homelessness by providing shelter, food, counseling and other assistance.

Mors did more than write a six-figure check, however. Displaying the Seabee’s “Can Do” motto, he asked questions and sought solutions to further expand services for those who served their country.

In an obituary on the GCVF’s website Executive Director Bob Harris said: “Eighty years ago, Bill went into battle with a rifle and a bulldozer. This time he used a checkbook instead of a rifle, but his mind was that same unstoppable bulldozer. He knew it was his last battle and he knew his time was getting short. He pushed us to move faster, push delays and obstacles aside, and build a place for veterans to live and heal.”

My friend Jean, meanwhile, told me about a kindness aimed at a veteran from a different war. She wrote in part:

“Dear Woody – If you plan to do future feel-good stories in your column I’d like to share a happening I experienced on Jan. 15, my deceased brother’s birthday, at Surfer’s Point.

“As he headed out towards the water, a surfer stopped to listen to me as I asked if he’d be willing to assist in dropping into the ocean several seashells that were from my brother John Shepard’s memorial paddle-out held in Olympia, Wash., two years ago. John passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer due to being hit with Agent Orange four times while serving as a Green Beret in Vietnam.

“When I asked this 30-to-40ish-year-old fellow – his first name was Alex and he is Nordhoff High graduate – to help, I gave him a brief history of my brother. John used to surf at The Point, C Street, all along the California Coast. He also worked for the legendary Tom Morey building early Boogie Boards and surfboards for/with Tom Hale in the early-to-mid-1960s.”

With triple elation, Jean concluded: “Alex immediately agreed to the task and said he’d paddle way out and drop the shells – and also say a few words for John as well!!! Although I failed to get Alex’s last name I hope he knows how much his especially kind deed was appreciated!!!”

While I’d love to move a couch, so to speak, for Jean today and help Tim with a dresser next Saturday, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. An unwritten rule is still a rule. I hope they both understand.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

Final Tally of 2020 Ball Drive Is…

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Final Tally of 2020

Holiday Ball Drive Is . . .

“Beauty lives with kindness,” wrote Shakespeare, perfectly describing kind Star readers who made the holidays more beautiful for local disadvantaged kids by donating to “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In the spirit of The Bellringer campaign, here are some more of the givers this year…

Kelly Lanier gave six assorted balls, noting: “Sports were so important to my two sons – they learned how to win and lose gracefully; learned the power of teamwork; made numerous friends; learned how to share; and, of course, got exercise. I want all children to have the same opportunities.”

Some of the record avalanche of gift balls for kids!

Jim Barrick gave opportunities to a dozen kids with 12 basketballs; Steve and Shelly Brown gave five basketballs; and Ric and Penny Ruffinelli donated four basketballs.

Nick Sarris gave 51 assorted balls and shared: “I reminisced about the treasured younger days of playing catch with my dad and brother and fast-forwarded to the days of playing catch with my daughter – these things should be a part of every kid’s life.”

Joe Kapp and his granddaughter, Kayden, teamed up to give six assorted balls while two dozen balls, one each in honor of their grandchildren, were donated anonymously by “Two Blessed Grandparents.”

Jim and Sandie Arthur donated three “happy faces” with basketballs and Steve and Bobbin Yarbrough gave one basketball.

Michael Olgy donated one football and one basketball “in honor of all senior athletes in Ventura who have worked so hard and show such courage during this lost 2020-2021 season.”

Duke Lyskin, my friend since middle school, gave three basketballs; Tom and Karyne Roweton donated two basketballs; and Joanne Abing passed in one basketball.

Rebecca Fox gave one soccer ball “in memory of Jim Cowan” and another 16 assorted balls were donated anonymously in Jim’s memory.

In memory of local coaching legend Bob Tuttle, five basketballs were donated by Gary Tuttle, Toni Tuttle Santana, Gayle Tuttle Camalich, Arlys Tuttle and Trudy Tuttle Arriaga while Steve and Tonya McFadden gave three balls “in loving memory of Coach Harold McFadden.

Brent Muth donated two basketballs in memory of Mike Sandoval and Gerry Carrauthers, and a third in honor of his parents George and Sharon Muth “for all their support of our youth teams growing up.”

Sheila and Tom McCollum gave four assorted balls and Janine Bundy donated five basketballs “in honor of my wonderful parents, John and Marilyn Bundy.”

Karen Brooks gave 16 assorted balls; Patrick Gallagher donated six balls; and Kate Larsen gave three “kids’ smiles.”

Draza Mrvichin gave an assortment of 11 balls; Tim and Cindy Hansen donated seven balls; and Lucie and Rick Estberg gave four balls.

A large team of family members and friends combined to donate 104 balls. The roster: Alma Rodriguez, Thomas Duran, Nancy and Rick Rodriguez, Connie and Andy Rodriguez, Carmen and Luis Rodriguez, Reina and Michael Rodriguez, Shaun Rodriguez and Ruth Garcia, Deb Rose, Pamela Wood, Lara and Phil Hruska, Claudia and Mike Nieves, Kellie and John Serna, Charlene and Phil Hobbs, Cathy and Mike Ord, Caren and Achilles Maresca, Rose and Jace Holland, Dave Robillard, Lane Reintjes, Maddie Kaufman and Will Moodie.

Lauren Siegel gave five basketballs and Stacy DeLeon’s youngest children, Marcus and Kristina, donated two basketballs.

Brad and Mia Ditto gave five assorted balls; the Tebbets family donated four balls; and Richard and Nancy Francis gave three balls.

Sharon Martin gave five basketballs in honor of “people who do Random Acts Of Kindness” and Stephanie Becerra and her boyfriend Robert Guizar did a RAOK by donating four basketballs.

Tennis legends and legendary role models Mike and Bob Bryan served up 25 assorted balls and Ian Eaton, a longtime Special Olympics competitor, and his parents Lance and Jean donated 15 balls.

Pam and Burt von Bieberstein gave eight balls with Burt sharing: “I remember the fun it was having a ball as a boy and playing for hours alone or with friends.”

The final tally for 2020 . . . drumroll, please . . . is a whopping 794 gift sports balls, crushing last year’s previous record of 551 children’s smiles!

Thank you, dear readers. Your kindness is unbelievably beautiful.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

Two Tales of Christmas Spirit

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Two Tales of

Christmas Spirit

A song in the movie The Grinch asks, “Where are you, Christmas? Why can’t I find you?”

Sometimes it shows up where you least expect it as I witnessed just the other day. A homeless man, bearded and bedraggled and sadly appearing to be in mental disarray as well, was yelling angrily at every passerby who came with 20 yards of him near a walkway at a local park.

Naturally, people began keeping their distance. And then came an exception. A teenage boy on a bike approached the man, not too close, but near enough to get barked at fiercely before riding away.

A good while later, maybe half an hour, the teen returned. He had pedaled some four miles, roundtrip, to McDonald’s to buy a gift meal for the distressed man.

The scene, which I watched unfold from afar, brightened my day and Holiday Season as I hope it does yours. It also brought to mind another Christmastime encounter I witnessed a number of years ago that I still share whenever someone complains about today’s youth.

It was past 1 o’clock in the morning when I stopped at a 24-hour Ventura doughnut shop on my way home from a Lakers game. The parking lot was a ghost town except for four shadowy figures loitering on the sidewalk near the shop’s entrance.

As I approached I could see there were three boys and girl, all teens, all with numerous tattoos and piercings. I stereotypically judged these books by their covers, especially as they stood hauntingly in a semicircle around an elderly man, cold and coatless and barefoot, and seated on the sidewalk.

I went inside to get a blueberry muffin, all the while keeping a worried eye on the group outside. Nothing seemed to be happening until…

… I walked back outside. Then, as ominously as pirates ordering a prisoner to walk the plank at gunpoint, I heard the troublesome-looking teens tell the old man to stand up and walk.

“Uh-oh!” I thought.

My next thought was that I had misjudged these four buccaneers, and greatly so.

“How do those feel?” one of the boys asked. “Do they fit?”

The homeless man took a few measured steps, stopped, looked at his feet, made an about-face and returned to the quartet.

“These ones fit real good,” the cold man answered, flashing a smile that warmed the winter night.

The teens, in unison, smiled back.

“Keep them. They’re yours,” the same boy as before replied. “I want you to have them.”

Glancing down I saw the speaking teen was now barefoot. He had given the man in need his expensive skateboarding sneakers and socks as well.

The other two boys sat on their skateboards, retying their shoes. It seems that they, too, had let the man try on their sneakers to find which pair best fit him. The girl, meanwhile, gave her hooded sweatshirt to the cold man.

Halfway to my car I made a U-turn and went back inside the shop and picked out an assortment of a dozen doughnuts while sharing what I had just witnessed outside. Time and again, the Christmas spirit is more contagious than coronavirus and this was such a time. The woman worker not only wouldn’t let me pay for the doughnuts, she added a free jumbo coffee for the cold man.

“These are from the lady inside,” I said, delivering the treats. “Have a nice night.”

The man with new shoes and a sweatshirt grinned appreciatively.

“You have a nice night, too,” one of the teens replied.

I already had.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

 

80th Birthday is a Superspreader

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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80th Birthday is

a Superspreader

Sharon Martin recently turned 80 and her milestone birthday celebration turned into a superspreader. There wasn’t an outbreak of coronavirus, however – it was kindness that proved widely contagious.

“At my age I have enough stuff,” the longtime Simi Valley resident says, and thus asked family members and friends to each do a “Random Act Of Kindness” in her honor in lieu of a gift-wrapped present.

“I could hardly wait until the big day to open my birthday cards and see what RAOK people had done,” Sharon further shares. “I was like a 5-year-old waiting for Christmas Day.”

Her virtual Christmas tree had more than 50 “gifts” beneath it, including monetary donations to food banks, rescue missions and other charities while food and blankets were given to an animal shelter.

The RAOKs benefited the young and old alike. One woman donated an American Girl Doll to a foster child while several friends “adopted” senior citizens to visit by phone and drop off meals to during the pandemic.

One woman rallied her coworkers and put together 75 back-to-school backpacks filled with supplies for an inner-city elementary school. Similarly, two friends made donations to For The Troops to send “We Care” packages.

“My great-niece joined with others to help clean up the beach,” Sharon said and similarly noted that a 90-year-old nun has started picking up trash on her daily walks as a birthday gift.

“Some were small things,” Sharon continued. “My brother was at a health clinic and when he was leaving he found a pen on the floor. The pen had a special inscription about a nurse and he knew it was important to someone. He spent quite a bit of time interviewing all the nurses and finally found the right one. She was so appreciative as it had been given to her on the day she graduated from nursing school.”

One friend baked homemade bread and delivered it to a neighbor recovering from surgery, along with a good book to read, and another woman made gallons of apple butter to help raise money for families in need.

Another woman tallied up how much money she had NOT spent getting her hair done during the pandemic and sent an equivalent check to a family that is struggling.

“Residents at the Simi Valley Care Center will soon have a pretty gazebo to sit under,” Sharon happily reported, “thanks to a donation to the Eagle Scout project by Josh Hoover.”

One friend saw a man at Costco unsuccessfully trying to squeeze a large piece of furniture into a car that was too small. He brought his pickup truck around and then followed the man home with the special delivery.

Sharon proudly noted that Bill, her husband of 59 years, “is always doing random acts of kindness” and for her birthday celebration this included helping a friend take 5,000 pounds of donations to a Catholic food share.

Naturally, the couple’s three sons honored their mom with RAOKs: Chris went out of his way to make sure a food delivery got to the right person; Greg found a baby quail with a damaged wing and rushed it to a rescue hospital for successful care; and Tim cleaned out the rain gutters for the widow of a victim in the 2017 massacre in Las Vegas.

Turning 80 is a big deal, but how can it compete with the childhood excitement and cake-and-sugar rush of a fifth birthday or eighth or tenth? By giving, that’s how.

As Sharon concluded: “I can truthfully say that this was my very best birthday.”

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

Acts of Kindness Are Real Gift

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Acts of Kindness

Are a Real Gift

I had big plans for a recent milestone birthday.

But like everyone else with grand occasions to celebrate in 2020, Coronavirus had other ideas. Thoughts of a local microbrewery filled to overflowing turned as flat as warm, day-old beer.

Life, however, is full of bubbly surprises. I casually asked friends and family, since we could not get together, to do random acts of kindness as a gift to me. Here are a few of the ribbons and bows…

Vicki brought in her neighbor’s trashcans in 90-degree heat and added: “It felt so good I did a few more houses down, too!”

Her deed provided a bonus smile because it made me think of my late friend, Sparky Anderson, who used to walk through his neighborhood and move trash barrels from the curb up the driveways. “It don’t cost you nothing at all to be nice,” he told me in explanation.

Susan checked in on the health and needs of some elderly friends.

Trudy hand wrote a card to an old high school friend “letting her know that my memories and moments with her were some of my best.”

Ronna addressed postcards to get out the vote for mail-in voting.

Ed went shopping and delivered the groceries to his senior neighbor.

Rebecca similarly went “shopping for friends during this pandemic.”

Michele was another Samaritan shopper, making a Costco run for three seniors and also picked lemons for a friend who is on unemployment and quarantined with four kids.

Tim, knowing how much I love books and libraries and kids, bought a bunch of children’s books for a Little Free Library.

Bill phoned two friends who are fighting cancer.

Carrie said, “I am too shy to share what I did, but it made my day to hear that it really helped!” Her secret surprise made my day, too.

Margaret put out a basket of snacks on the front porch for her postal carrier and UPS drivers.

Barbara did a similar kindness for her garbage man and shared at length: “I was on my porch when my refuse company truck pulled up and mechanically dumped the contents of one of my receptacles into the truck. The driver stopped for a moment longer and I saw him pour water into a towel and wrap it around his neck. It was very hot and I felt for him.

“While he finished up in my cul-de-sac, I went inside and got an ice-cold can of ginger ale from my fridge. When he returned the other direction in front of my house, I walked over and gestured for him to roll down his window.

“I asked if he would like a cold drink and told him how much I appreciated how hard he was working, especially in the heat and during this pandemic. I was shocked to see tears well up in his eyes as he took the can and thanked me.”

She later added a postscript: “Ever since that day, he honks as he passes if I am outside and we share a wave and two big smiles!”

Two more big smiles. First from Kathleen, who put Mother Teresa’s famous words – “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one” – into action by delivering a homemade dinner of chicken cacciatore with pasta to her neighbor in my honor.

Lastly, a dear childhood friend of mine and her husband turned Mother Teresa’s inspiring sentence backwards by feeding not one, but 750 people, with a donation to Food Share of Ventura County.

It was indeed a masterpiece birthday.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

Readers Share Cookies and Sunrises

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Column Readers Share

Cookies And Sunrises

            Judging from my flooded email in-box, I am far from alone in being a pushover for Girl Scouts selling Tagalong and Shortbread cookies.

Diane Hunn, among others, shared: “I did a very similar thing with the little Brownie up the street from me. I was only going to purchase two boxes. But I only had $20’s from the ATM – and two boxes turned into eight!”

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Jane Rozanski related a heartwarming experience her granddaughter Juliana had.

“One early evening, a few years ago, Juliana (then 9 years old and a Brownie), her younger sister Tessa, their Daddy and their golden-doodle Rose packed up their little red wagon and went door to door to sell the cookies.

“Somewhere, on the way home, Juliana’s Hello Kitty wallet fell out of the wagon and she lost $150! They backtracked to look for it, but to no avail! Juliana made ‘Lost’ signs and they placed them around the neighborhood and her Daddy called the police to report the loss.

“The officers felt so bad for her that they passed the hat and collected $165 – and dropped by the house to give it to her!

“The next day, Juliana received a call from a mother whose 15-year-old daughter, also a Girl Scout, had found the wallet and they would drop it by!

“Juliana decided to return the $165 that the officers had collected – plus give them 30 boxes of cookies. So they packed up their wagon and they all dropped by the station to surprise the officers!”

A gorgeous “Pajama Sunset” in Ventura…

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Meanwhile, my friend Jim McCoskey takes the cake, so to speak, by buying all 66 boxes a Girl Scout had left to the tune of $330!

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John Watts sent this gem echoing my column on sunsets and the importance of perspective:

“There once was a woman who woke up, looked in the mirror, and noticed that she only had three hairs on her head. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll braid my hair today!’ So she did, and she had a wonderful day.

“The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. ‘Hmm,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today!’ So she did, and she had a grand day.

“The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail!’ So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

“The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. ‘Yeah!’ she exclaimed, ‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’

“Attitude is everything.”

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Lastly, an email from my sister-in-law, Kay, who shared a story of my late mom I had never heard before. As background, before my dad’s house was lost in the Thomas Fire, Kay lived a short walk away from him.

“When I used to visit your Dad every morning we would often comment on the pretty sunrises. I guess when your parents first married your Mom had some pajamas that had pinks and blues in them – so your Dad and I started calling certain gorgeous mornings a ‘pajama sunrise.’

“I have told my three girls the story and now we often comment on ‘pajama SUNSETS’ because they are never around to see the sunrise with me!

“So next time you see the sky in various shades of pink and blue, your Mom may be wearing her pajamas!”

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …