compassion.

Last night, my boyfriend and I grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant near my house. And like any other dinner (or lunch) with him, we stuffed our faces until our stomachs could no longer take in any more char siu fried rice, crisp duck & beef with ong choy.

After dinner, we proceeded slowly out the door; i hunching my back and holding my overly full stomach. i plopped in the car as he drove off heading down the street to fill gas. He joked and asked me, "how much do you want to bet that 'she' is there?" And I replied, "yeah, I'm pretty sure she's there..."

And there she was, the same homeless lady we would see every time we would fill up at this gas station... she was sitting right next to the double doors with her legs out. Her what used to be white t-shirt was tattered and covered in dirt, and I could see it from where we were parked. Her hair was matted and face also smudged with dirt had an expression of exhaustion & sadness. As if she was waiting in that same spot for days.

I normally stay in the car while my boyfriend fills the tank, because there are times this homeless lady would shout out to hallucinations or ask people walking by for money...but this time was different. I handed him a $5 bill and said, "go and buy a drink that way if she asks you for something on your way out, you can just hand something to her." and he replied, "do you want to come inside with me and get something?" and without hesitation I responded, "yes." In my head I thought, why make him do it? Its not that hard to grab a bottle of water and hand it to her.

So, as I was gathering my bag I slammed the car door and noticed that an SUV had parked directly in front of her with their hi-beams on..."how rude..." i thought. "turn your freakin' lights off, idiot." I was upset because people don't even acknowledge that "homeless" people are people too. Maybe I'm too kind and obviously an optimist...but I always think that this person right here is someone's grandmother, mother, sister, friend, etc.  How many people walked passed her and did nothing? Let alone...how many people walked passed her and decided to offer compassion?

As my boyfriend opened the door for me, I walked by and smiled at her as to say "hello," as I entered into the store. Instead of just getting something to drink, I grabbed a turkey sandwich also. My boyfriend put his arm around my waist and whispered, "you're such a nice person..." And after paying for the items and our gas at the register, i walked out with the bag and handed it to her. She looked at me and said, "mahalo," it means "thank you" in Hawaiian. A warm feeling rushed through my body, as my boyfriend grabbed my hand and again said, "you're so nice; such a good person..." we both walked back to the car.

I felt happy knowing that I did something nice for someone. And even more happy knowing that hopefully the people around us saw what we did and would hopefully do the same somehow...kind of like "paying it forward."

That $5 would've went to my usual iced grande soy caramel macchiato that I would grab as I headed through the morning traffic...but this time i think it was definitely put to a good cause.

im back :)

so its been a while since i last blogged. so i just wanted to say "HI!"
since December:

-I've gotten down to 163.
-Joined PC 24
-and agreed to an iPad challenge! Leslie's cousins' and I are all competing for a decked out iPad. The terms...who can lose the most weight by July >__<

Other updates:

-I'm currently sick ;( dry cough/itchy throat/bleh
-I have midterms! next week physiology lab, and the week after physiology lecture + ethology.

I really can't wait for spring break...but then again I work. ahh!

hope you're having a much better day than I am!