The Forgotten People

Several weeks ago my sister passed along an email that she got from work. She works for Rhodes Bake-n-serv. You know the people who make the frozen rolls and bread. Her company is always looking for ways to improve their employees and work environment. This particular email came to her from The Arbinger Institute, a company who tries to help individuals and organizations move from an inward mindset to an outward mindset.

It was all about remembering the forgotten people in our lives.

I read and then stopped to think about the "forgotten" people in my life and how I might serve them this Christmas.

My thoughts went to our dentist. Shortly after moving to Salt Lake, Tyler and I sought out a dentist. Back then nobody had a web page but instead advertised in the phone book. Dr. Pettit was close and looked friendly enough.

Nineteen years, five kids, two crowns, one root canal, and quite a few fillings later we still are making the biannual trip to Salt Lake for our cleanings. He is pretty much family to us. In fact when I had to cancel our cleanings last spring due to lack of insurance, my kids were quite morose [probably because it meant no video games while they wait their turn :)]

Pettit Dental was the "forgotten" people in our life and I set about making a loaf of bread for each dental employee. It's not very often that we visit the dentist right before Christmas and we were excited to be able to give something back after so many years.

My thoughts also went to remembering those times in our lives that are easily forgotten once we've moved on. Like the young mom with little children who thinks she will always be changing diapers and wiping noses. Or the new family in the neighborhood. It's not easy moving to a new area, wondering how you're going to fit in. Or for me, it's the substitute who shows up to our special needs class for the day. Those were some awkward subbing jobs when I would walk into a special ed class full of other paras busily doing their morning routines and nobody really acknowledged me. I try very hard to make our substitutes feel at home and because of my efforts one of those substitutes has become someone I would call my friend.

REMEMBER: One of the most important words in the dictionary.