I have spent time with two people in the last week who are extremely generous. The funny thing is, they are each in very different stations in life. One is a SAHM mom of six, and one is a working woman who is married with no children, except for two puppies. Each of them are noticeably generous, and I wonder what might need to change within me to be generous like they are. One area I noticed their generosity is with food.

When we ate breakfast yesterday morning at a buffet, my Joel ate a good five courses of food. At home, I only let him have one bowl of cereal, as opposed to two or three, and he is welcome to eat other food, but he usually sticks with one bowl of cereal. I was amazed at how much he ate. He IS a growing boy, but wow, I had no idea he could put so much away. And while we were at my generous friend’s house last week, Joel commented that he loves the atmosphere at her house. It was in the context of her putting out a great spread for lunch and I could see how much he enjoyed having so many things to choose from.

So often, buying, preparing, keeping track of inventory, etc. of food is something I do rather grudgingly. When I buy 12 boxes of cereal per week, I guess I get a little worried that it is going to be gone too soon. And it really does bug me that it often happens that Greg will look in the fridge in the evening, or in the cabinet and let me know that we do not have any cereal left.

Anyway, I noticed a real contrast between these two women and my own behavior. Not to get too inwardly-focused, but I would really like to learn to be more generous — not only with my family and myself, but with people who come into my life. I think being generous with myself and my family would be a good place to start, though.

Today I experienced a few firsts; or at least, one. I got a pedicure. My brilliant sister-in-law, she of the Iowa Cubs idea, treated me, Valerie and Anna-Jessie to pedicures today. This is the first one the girls have had, which probably isn’t surprising, but it may be surprising that I’ve never had one. And did you know that sometimes MEN give pedicures. A Vietnamese man gave my

toes a makeover and did a fine job. I’ve been looking at my pretty toenails all day long and wondering why I never did this before! Look at Valerie’s pretty toenails! She had her pedicurist paint a music staff with notes on each big toe. So cool!

After lunch we went shopping at this older mall that almost everyone has abandoned, apparently, cause there was almost no one there. I don’t know quite what has gotten into me, but I saw some extremely cool shoes and bought them on the spot. Valerie has informed me that she plans to steal them, which may mean I have bought something extra cool. Here they are: