I met some really wonderful people today at the Thanksgiving dinner. Although I won't share all their stories, this one really hit home for me.
The most touching part of my day was at the end a guy that I had met while play cards came up and asked if he could take part of the
paper tablecloth home (we had markers and people all wrote what they were grateful for on them). I said "yes, of course....". He got tears in his eyes and showed it to me. He had written a little message for his daughter who was killed in a car accident that he caused by driving drunk. When he told me I instantly wanted to just hug the shit out of him. I thought about all the times I drove drunk and about my DUI. I am so grateful that I never hurt anyone and that I don't have to do that anymore. I can't imagine what pain he must have gone through and I can imagine, still goes through everyday. He is sober now and I am just so impressed. He is the coolest guy and would be an awesome dad! He was great with all of the little kids at the dinner. I don't know if he'll ever get the chance to be a dad again, but I hope so.
After we talked for a while I asked him if he wanted to take the yarn flowers we had made for the centerpieces to put by her grave. He looked surprised and asked if I would really give them to him. He picked out 4 or 5 fake yarn flowers and took them with him. He kept thanking me and acting like I gave him a million dollars--in reality, he got a piece of paper that he had written on and about 5 cents worth of yarn hooked to a twig. It really made me think about what I have to be grateful for and the meaning behind the things I place value in. It's crazy how something so seemingly simple can mean so much to someone.
