VENDOR WRITING

MORE ABOUT MY AMAZING CUSTOMERS

BY NORMA B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

It’s been a really dismal day, a constant cold, rain falling and I’m about to enter what is usually the absolute worst time of year for me.

As I sit here trying to figure out the best way to lift my mood and my spirits, it occurs to me that I should write more about my amazing customers! I am certain that’ll do the trick. My people constantly restore my faith in humanity. My hope is that it can do the same for you. Here are just a few examples: First up there’s Mari. (She’s Mark’s other half. Remember him? He’s the guy with the cool overalls mentioned in a previous article.) She stopped by with some shirts, snow boots, and an awesome winter coat.

Many of them have already been worn and gotten rave reviews. Yay!

I thought I’d come up with a witty nickname for the two of them: “M&M” for Mark and Mari. Cool, right? That is until she told me ALL their friends call them that. I think I’m slipping, or maybe I’m not as clever as I thought.

Lenny pulled into the parking lot got out and said, “I’ve been missing you young lady.” OK, for the record, anyone who calls me “young” can visit me as often as they like. I assured him I was out every chance I get. He reluctantly took a paper, smiled and away he went.

Randy also got out of his truck and came to me and said he sees me out here a lot and worries about me. He gave me a good tip and I encouraged him to stop by anytime with or without money. I also told him I also trade papers for food, water, etc. He said, “I’ll bet we become fast friends.” I’m looking forward to that!

Ricky, in spite of having cancer, stopped and gave me $5 because he appreciated my positive attitude and how I make the most of every day. I encouraged him to do the same, and to keep me posted how his treatments were going.

Yasmine brought me heart-shaped Dunkin Donuts after Valentines Day. (My favorite were were chocolate covered with the custard filling.) Yum!

Kathy got out of her car and came to get her paper after making sure I was published in it. She said she knew a couple of my former LoJac now Vulcan drivers who stop for me occasionally. I guess news really does travel!

Kitkey (I’m sure I misspelled his name-I spelled it phonetically, how it sounds.) He’s a young man of Native American descent.

He stopped and gave me $5 for two papers. Buying multiple papers is a little unusual, but that’s NOT what made this visit special.

What made this interaction unique was the fact that after our initial brief conversation, he returned later that same day and asked about my story. After talking or quite some time, he said he’d look for me whenever he was in the area. I’m not sure how often that’ll be, but that’s pretty awesome, right?

There’s the couple whose vehicle looked like an old fashioned Colonial bread truck- Does anyone remember the old bread store in Madison? It reminded me of that, (and you just can’t beat the smell of fresh baked bread.) They gave me all kinds of bread that they said Publix was just going to throw out — Multigrain bread, doughnuts, banana bread, muffins, cookies, hoagie rolls, you name it, they had it. I only took what I could use, but I must admit, it pained me to think of the rest of it going to waste. What a shame, when there’s SO many people who could actually use it.

There’s Lindy who stopped to tell me about her mom who she’d recently become the primary caregiver for after she’d suffered a fall, followed by what she believed to be a stroke that ultimately led to her untimely death. It was obvious to me that Lindy was in tremendous emotional pain.

Mary, a pedestrian passing by on the sidewalk, gave me $1 and asked me to pray for her. When I asked if there was anything in particular she needed, tears began steaming down her face and she said, “I’m just SO lonely.” Needless to say, the prayer was done on the spot!

As always, I ask all of my readers to pray for them if your heart moves you to do so after all, we can NEVER get too many of those!

Finally there’s the USAF veteran who noticed I was having trouble standing up (it happens A LOT if I’ve been sitting a while, or if it’s extremely cold or rainy outside which has happened A LOT lately). He got out of his truck and came to and gave me a tip, when I made it to his truck before the light changed I said, “see I made it to you after all, so you didn’t have to go to all that trouble.” He said, “here, take this too, since you made the effort,” giving me an even bigger tip.

Is this an example of getting out of something what you put into it? It sure seems that way to me.

Well, I must say, I’m feeling better now. I hope you were able to find a few experiences that were equally uplifting to you as well.

Until next time, please keep these examples close in your heart and mind when you’re feeling down and allow them to lift you up, and when and if the opportunity presents itself to do something for someone else, no matter how big or how small it may seem don’t hesitate, just do it!

Only then will you experience the true sense of purpose and satisfaction that come from fulfilling the words of Acts 20:35, “There is more joy in giving than in receiving.”

WAY OUT OF THE BOTTOMS

BY MAURICE B., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

Being at the bottom of a barrel with no way out is a hard situation to explore. Every individual has their bottoms, and the depths to each one vary.

There are many variations of any specific bottom, but the main concept of the bottom is the ground level. The truth about life itself is that we all have touched the ground once in our lives, but we also intend to reach the highest degree of satisfaction that we can fathom.

The state of imagination is what is posed and presented firmly in the minds of each individual as they attempt to press towards their honorable marks of true success. The various greater expectations of others are usually what holds an individual's posterior from moving forward towards their imaginary mark of success whereas an instant gratification process from the various minds will work for them but not for all others. That's where a certain amount of people become misconstrued. That's where the grades, levels, statuses, categories of people separate.

The feeling of accomplishing certain amounts of achievements leads an individual to perform in certain different manners whereas the work ethic that has been pertained to the success story of that person has that person to carry themselves according to that standard.

As of the motion of a vehicle that is equipped with three mirrors a person accomplishing things in life is the same. To move forward is the positive option in and of vitality, therefore one must use the mirrors only to glance at what was in the past because the main objective is to never create an accident from not paying attention to the present and future. What has occurred in the past is what one has submitted to or surrendered to only to proceed to where one is at. By overcoming the difficulties or tragedies of one's history is how one is able to press forward into today's actions of life. From the bottom to the top is everyone's favorite motto/ slogan, but everyone's concept of the bottom isn't the same as well as everyone's concept of the top isn't.