RAOK

There was a lot of rain on the drive home from St Louis! Those 18-wheelers throw a lot of water when you try to pass, so it takes concentration to get past the wall of water with the car intact. In fact, the whole drive took a lot of concentration so I listened to the various stations on Sirius and relied on Nellie to navigate me through the freeways. It worked quite well.

Another activity to help keep me alert, was looking for Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK) as I traveled. You know, those little things that are not required, or expected, and that often go unappreciated because they are not really overt enough to notice unless one is making an effort. Here are a few I recall:

• An 18-wheeler that made a turn on a changing light causing us to wait even longer for our turn. As he turned, he slowed more than necessary and I found myself getting irritated. Then I noticed a bicyclist turning with him, hidden by the end of the rig. The driver obviously saw the danger of leaving the cyclist exposed to aggravated drivers waiting anxiously to gun the motors of their cars, and slowed to prevent a horrible accident. I have a great deal of respect for professional "big-rig" drivers, but very little for drivers of gravel and dump trucks.
• The drivers of cars in Missouri begin to carefully merge when they see the see a sign noting one lane merging into another. Therefore, there is an orchestrated flow of traffic feeding into the merger. Even had I not seen the sign, I could tell I was in Texas when the cars began speeding up to get to the front of a merging line and force their way in. Traffic tends to come to a standstill as all the cars jam the merging lanes.
• A driver stopped to help another driver who was stopped by the side of the road...in the pouring rain...with his hood up. You just don't see that anymore.
• A man actually held the door open for me and acknowledged my "Thank you".
• A clerk spoke to me with kindness and smiled. That is getting to be more and more unusual.

It's the little things in life that make us happy. ...like, no matter how much fun you had, being home.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I found this today and wanted to share it.....

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you will never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of your arm.

As you get older, you will discover you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the care she lovingly gives and the passion she shows. The beauty of a woman only grows with the passing years!

                     - Sam Levenson 

"Suffrage Stirs Up Missionaries"

"San Francisco Chronicle" 17 October 1911

Miss Harriet E. POLLARD, a missionary leaving tomorrow for Corea[sic],stated she had voted in Colorado and found nothing disagreeable in the experience. A woman is no more exposed to objectionable intrusion, she explained, while waiting to cast a vote than waiting to purchase a ticket at a railway office. She further gave assurance that Colorado did not repent of its woman suffrage privilege. 

Women of the West Museum

In 1914, taking lessons from their sisters in Kansas, California and Colorado, suffragists lobbied Progressive legislators until they offered a bill to enfranchise women. They spoke into bullhorns from Model T's and organized public parades, undaunted by taunts or threats to southern womanhood. A formidable two-thirds legislative majority posed too great a barrier to passage, however, and the bill was defeated.
Female Texans joined Arkansans and Oklahomans as the first women allowed in polling places in the South, when they won "primary suffrage," the right to vote in state primaries and political conventions, in 1918.

Our foremothers fought hard for the right to vote. Have you exercised that privilege today?