All the Small Things

“You pay our Social Security, you don’t need to buy our dinner too!”

Location: Rapid City, South Dakota

Giving in South Dakota was an amalgamation of little things. Things to make people smile. Things to make people laugh and share. We tipped heartily, we bought rounds of drinks for an awesome group of people who would soon become new friends, and we met people whose spirits were genuinely passionate and compassionate (Jeremy, Kegan, Derek, Wes, all of you…) Jeremy, we wish you the best with the upcoming proposal (we’d say yes!). We were lucky enough to be in the presence of so much love in South Dakota, the main event revolving around an elderly couple, Larry and Lucy, eating a celebratory birthday dinner together at Gold Stone Restaurant, home of the World’s Largest Cinnamon Roll. Lucy was turning 86 and the two of them sat happily with one another on the same side of the table, sharing drinks, dinner, and pie. We had to do something for this couple… soon to celebrate their 66^th anniversary, whose love and adoration for one another was palpable. Along with the kind and lovely waitresses at Gold Stone, we sang happy birthday to Lucy. The three of us decided to buy Larry and Lucy’s birthday dinner. The two were both touched and worried, “Do your moms know you’re spending your money on strangers?!” But it was more than our pleasure. We had the good fortune of meeting this adorable couple, and Lucy, suffering a bit from Alzheimer’s, was still a peppy and sharp firecracker of a woman. The duo was touring some of America together in an RV. It should be said here that as much as we are enjoying giving, so much is coming back to us. We have been so blessed to meet people not only interested in and supportive of our journey, but so many who insist on helping us locate places to stay, or match donations, or pay for a tank of gas. It seems sometimes it is so easy to see the violence, the sadness, the frustration present in the world, present in each of us, but we cannot forget that good intentions, good people, goodness is everywhere. We just need to work to bring it out in one another.