Describe the last time you were
moved to tears by something beautiful.
The last time? Honestly… this is going to sound so cheesey and lame and girly… but when Zane did my laundry for me, what, last week?
That was the first time, ever, since leaving home, that someone did my laundry for me, without me asking, or prodding, or going with them.
I had been getting ready for the gym and simply mentioned that I needed to do laundry at some point because I was running out of clean cloths. It was an offhanded comment, an observation really, said out loud absent-mindedly.
I hugged Zane goodbye, said I would be back in a little bit, went to the gym, and when I came back he hugged me hello and said that he was just about to head out to switch my laundry from the wash to the drier.
I was literally speechless for a few seconds. My brain just couldn’t process the thought of NOT having to worry about something. I hadn’t asked for this to be done, and I hadn’t done it myself. There was no way that the laundry could have been taken care of. That information just didn’t fit into the structure of my world. In “Jen Land” it wasn’t possible.
It was on par with having my mind blown and a black hole opening up somewhere in Universe.
It was one thing less that I had to worry about. One thing, one random act of kindness expressed to me by another person, rather than me to someone else. Someone took the time to do something nice for me simply because they wanted to make my life easier.
I felt cared for, and thought of. I felt like I mattered and that my needs are important, too.
It was so simple of a thing, and yet it made me feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside that it’s almost stupid.
It’s very similar to when someone cooks dinner for me, or does the dishes, takes out the trash, cleans the cat’s pan. Small, little acts; normally ones that fulfill a function in some way. A chore, a task that I have to get done; something on my to-do list. Something that makes my life just a smidgen easier.
It may not seem like a lot, but to me it’s the world.
Maybe my mindset is overly deep, but those small actions have given me back minutes of my life. They are acts of kindness and selflessness and I view that as beautiful, and sometimes they are so meaningful to me that, yes, I am moved to tears.
TLDR: I cry over silly things like laundry because it’s not just laundry to me. It’s a billion times deeper than that.
I have a theory about Starbucks. I think people pay $5 for a cup of coffee to feel for a moment that they are truly cared for. They can ask for something completely ridiculous, such as a Double Ristretto Venti Half-Soy Nonfat Decaf Organic Chocolate Brownie Iced Vanilla Double-Shot Gingerbread Frappuccino Extra Hot With Foam Whipped Cream Upside Down Double Blended, One Sweet’N Low and One Nutrasweet, and Ice… and the person on the other side of the counter will not only get it right the first time, but they’ll do it with a big, fat smile on their face and a last comment of, “Let me know if that’s not perfect!” Five bucks gives someone the simulated feeling of being perfectly well-cared for for 5 minutes. It’s not just the coffee that’s addicting.
Finding that feeling without asking for it is like finding a diamond ring. That guy truly cares about you, girlfriend. You can count on it!