Antique Typewriter

So on the theme of writing, I thought I'd show you a typewriter my husband bought me a few years ago. After all, what is a writer without a typewriter? Well, if you ask anyone under 20, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to tell you what a typewriter is much less what it does. However, since it is still such an iconic symbol of true journalism, it seems appropriate that I have one. 

Besides, I'm a collector, right? A collector of what? Well, just about anything that catches my eye (including cars but that is a totally separate subject). 

This particular model is an Underwood from 1927 and I was really quite tickled to come home from vacation one summer and find it in my office. As with much of my collections, it does little more than collect dust. It is, however, eye candy in my opinion and possibly even inspiration at times.

Junk Food

Of course, it must be Friday, I'm blogging! Why is this the only day of the week, I seriously sit down to write? Not sure. I'll let you know when I figure it out from the depths of my inner being.

Actually, my blog is much lighter than that. I want to share something that I've have collecting dust for awhile. I alluded to the fact that I had written many articles for print and today I decided to reveal one of them to you.

So without further ado, here is one of my favorite published works…

Home from Vacation

Well, we've been on vacation so I haven't updated this blog for nearly 4 weeks. I guess it's time to add another post. This is what I wrote from the last day of our trip. I plan to share it on a website that publishes 'Random Acts of Kindness' stories. Hope you enjoy!

The other day when my family and I were returning from vacation, we stopped at a coffee shop for a quick meal and drinks for our final leg of the journey. The fellow who waited on us was pleasant  and patient with us as he took our order.  We were very familiar with this franchise so when he left us to fulfill our order, it was obvious that the place was short staffed. My children were unusually patient as we stood at the counter for an abnormally long time. When the fellow returned with the package of food for us, he simply smiled and said, "Sorry for the wait". "No problem," I replied and handed the package to my children to take to the car while I went to the washroom. While in there, I thought about the young man who had just served us and thought I should give him a tip. I wasn't sure why I felt that since the service  was very slow. As I walked out the door I glanced around to see if he was there but there was no sign of him so I proceeded to the car. Just as I was getting in the car, one of my sons announced that his older brother was 'teary'. When I asked what was wrong, he looked at me through his tears and said, "that guy... he just seemed so slow". I could see the compassion in his eyes and I instantly recognized the feeling that had moved me a few minutes earlier. "Let's give him a tip" I exclaimed, suddenly excited. "I want to go too!" declared my next oldest son. I grabbed  my wallet and dug out all the coins that were in it and handed it to my oldest as he and his brother promptly jumped out of the car to go bless the employee. He was so surprised and appreciative of their gesture, he offered them smoothies but they insisted that they had just wanted him to have the money, no strings attached. We continued on our way with much lighter hearts. Somehow the 13 hours driving that day didn't seem so bad after that.