The Little Things
Ray and I spent time at the nearby Honda dealership yesterday to get that funny sound our car was making taken care of. At least that is why we thought we were there. As Ray said at the end of the visit, we were really there to get the brakes fixed. We just didn’t know it. The funny sound ended up being, not a problem with the suspension system, but our spare tire rattling. In the process of figuring that out, mechanics learned we needed a brake job. We were very grateful.
We spent decades taking our car to a rather shabby repair shop. We liked the folks and the service, but the setting was . . . well, shabby, as you can see in this picture from 2016.
We were about to take Mother for a temporary visit to an assisted living while we went to a homeschool convention in Fort Worth. Yee ha!
Some car something or other delayed us a bit, but we made it in time.
What a change we have enjoyed since we started taking our newer-to-us Honda to the Honda dealership. When we walked into the modern—and clean—waiting room yesterday, a friendly concierge offered us a hot drink. Soon she brought each of us hot chocolate and invited us to sit at a nearby table. “The chairs are comfortable,” she told us. She offered snacks, too.
I searched for hot chocolate among the holdings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was delighted with this German porcelain figurine c. 1744. Its title is “Couple Drinking Chocolate.” Ray and I didn’t exactly look like this, but what a pretty piece of history!
“Couple Drinking Chocolate,” modeled by Johann Joachim Kandler,
manufactured by the Meissen Manufactory.
Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art,
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982.
When we finished our drinks, the attentive concierge took our cups and offered more. A couple of hours after our Honda visit began, a team member walked through the waiting area, waving and saying, “Y’all have a blessed day.”
Little things can be big things anytime, but especially when you could really use some extra TLC.
The experience reminded me of this past Monday when we drove through Dunkin Donuts to pick up coffee for someone else. As requested, I asked for sugar packets. I smiled when the server handed me a cute little white bag of sugar packets. It was a nice touch.
Thank you for all the little things you do every day. Let’s teach the next generation to do the little things, too. It’s a bit like the instruction that Jesus gave which inspired the saying, “Go the extra mile.”
“Whoever forces you to go one mile,
go with him two.”
Matthew 5:41