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{SFTH} *Stellar Performance* 3/30/01
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Enjoy today's story by Lynelle Dawson... We may be watching young
Kallie win an Oscar in the future!
Next e-mail coming your way on Sunday night so make sure all of you
have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for being a part of
the Straight From the Heart experience! You have no idea how much
all your encouragement has meant to us over the years...
Michael and Kristi
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Stellar Performance
By Lynelle Dawson
Recently we were on our way to the Buffalo International Airport to
catch a plane for the second day in a row. The day before, weather
related delays through Chicago were grounding planes by the droves
so we had reluctantly rescheduled. Michael, my partner, is the type
of person that stresses over travel plans, although I have told him
numerous times not to stress over MY travel plans. Regardless,
this was a typical air travel day with Michael worried sick while I
repeatedly retorted, "Stop worrying!" In the back seat, 13-year-old
Casi snickered at us both while 13-month-old Kallie remained
oblivious to the entire fiasco.
When we arrived, to Michael's chagrin and my smug "See, didn't I tell
you to stop worrying?" laughter-laced comments, we found out that
the planes connecting in Chicago were once again delayed. Again
they were "weather-related." Groaning, we checked in our luggage
and walked outside for some fresh air. The uncomfortable benches
on the sidewalks were filled with weary waylaid travelers. In fact,
there were so many flights delayed that there were unhappy people
milling about everywhere. As you can well imagine, very few people
were smiling.
Imagine an IRS audit.
Diminutive Kallie, though, whose stature is in no way indicative of
her mammoth desire to entertain, finds unsmiling strangers an absolute
tragedy! At first she was unobtrusive in her efforts to cheer as she
toddled up and down the sun-warmed concrete sidewalks with her
"Sissy." But, then she apparently decided that drastic measures
were in order as she slyly looked around and disappointedly
observed that most of the people were still sitting in stony silence.
So, squealing and giggling, she ran excitedly around the pillars. Nope,
that only got a few people's momentary attention. Like a dramatic
actor, she exaggerated her hesitance as she extended one foot into
the recessed lights set into the pavement before she actually walked
across it; the same light she had already tripped across twice a few
minutes earlier. Furtively, Kallie eyed the bench-sitters. She could
see she was beginning to get a few interested glances, but far too
many were still unobservant of her antics. At that point, she gleefully
and blatantly took matters into her very own capable "smile-making" hands.
It was show time.
She would have made George Burns' proud. While disbelievingly
staring around at all the passengers' expressionless faces, she had
an idea. Kallie stood center stage in front of her previously
uninterested audience and extended her arms, placed her little
baby hands side by side with their palms facing upwards, pushed
her shoulders all the way to her chin, opened her mouth as widely
as humanly possible and then shrugged her shoulders as if to say,
"Why all the frowns folks?" I thought one man was going to bust a
gut - he simply couldn't control the bubbling laughter that exploded
out of him.
It was contagious.
Kallie commenced choosing passengers one by one that she felt
needed her cheering guidance. With a few, she would stand directly
in front of them and brazenly stared at them with those startling blue
eyes until they would finally notice her. Then she would perform.
Sometimes she would thrust her tongue out at them and stretch it
almost down to her chin until they couldn't contain their laughter.
Others received the royal treatment of her opening shoulder shrug act.
She nearly untied one poor unsuspecting man's shoes to get his
attention or at least that's what she appeared to be carefully considering.
Luckily for him, he stopped reading his boring newspaper just in time
so she rewarded him with a captivating grin. For another she opened
her mouth wide in feigned surprise and THEN stuck out her tongue until
she too was part of her enthralled audience. Once she had the targeted
person's attention she would move on to the next ingrate that was daring
to not watch her stellar performance. One by one she got the rapturous
attention of every single person down the entire row of benches. Old,
young, pretty, ugly, fat, skinny, she didn't play favorites. By the time
Kallie had her audience in complete adoration, she had taken turns
gracing each one with her personal presence, even if for just an instant.
Somehow she drew a crowd of individual people together and gave them
the common bond of laughter.
She made them a group with a connection - her.
Everyone was so entranced with her enchanting antics that before we
knew it the multitude of rescheduled flights were beginning to depart.
Little by little, the hard benches began to empty until it was pretty much
only our family. In retrospect we marveled at how one little baby/toddler
could entertain so many frustrated people and help them actually enjoy
their flight delays with delighted smiles and unrestrained laughter rather
than wasting it with frowns and grumbling.
I believe there is a lesson to be learned here; perhaps it's as simple as
"Seize every moment" or "Turn lemons into lemonade." Either way, it's
amazing what one can learn from an innocent child. If we all used that
kind of effort to brighten even one person's life each and every day, what
an even more wonderful world it would be.
Wouldn't you have to agree?
Lynelle Dawson
frankie088@aol.com
Send Lynelle an e-mail and let her know what you thought of her story!
*****
Lynelle & Kallie live in Oklahoma with their three cats and their dog.
Lynelle says, "The best part of the whole performance for me was that
Michael relaxed too, although I don't know if I will EVER get all the dirt
out of Kallie's socks from that sidewalk!"
Lynelle does eBay auctions, operates her electronic claims clearinghouse,
writes on a freelance basis, and mommies her daughter...all from her
home. For more of Lynelle's heartwarming stories, please go to:
http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/author/41526
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From the E-mail Box!
I just kind of stumbled on to "Straight From the Heart" and read a powerful poem written by Ruth Nimmo (I AM) I needed that on this very morning!
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Hello,
I was sent your Batman story. and let me tell you it was beautiful... I
loved it! It of course brought tears to my eyes as I too am a parent... a mommy of a two year old... Thank you for your stories... they are wonderful!
Sincerely,
Meawie
kittymeaw@webtv.net
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Thought For The Day:
"Don't ask God for what you think is good; ask Him for what
He thinks is good for you."
Verse for the Day:
"After this manner therefore pray ye....Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven." -- Matthew 6:9,10
Kid's Thought For The Day:
"Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic-tac."
Parent's Thought For The Day:
"A man read that middle age is when you pull back from physical activity.
If he shovels snow, a middle-aged man can easily have a heart attack. The
next time it snowed he asked his teenage son to shovel the front walk. "If I
shovel all of that snow," the father explained, "I could keel over from a
heart attack."
His son said, "Sure, Dad, I'll be happy to."
The man keeled over from a heart attack.
Coach's Thought For The Day:
"I'm going to send the injured reserve players out for the toss next time."
-- Mike McCormack, coach of the hapless Baltimore Colts after the team's
co-captain, offensive guard Robert Pratt, pulled a hamstring running onto the
field for the coin toss against St. Louis, 1981
Deep Thought For The Day:
"Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance."
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_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
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Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business.)
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could have given them!! You did such a beautiful job! They were so
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for helping to make it so special to us all. My mom mentioned how
the songs were perfect for the video too! Thanks again!"
Kelli-- College Station, TX
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