Alive and well and doing good things...

I once worked for a man whose answer to "how are you?" was always, "alive and well and doing good things in (insert city here)". I loved that. He and Maddie would really get along well.

As I was preparing dinner tonight, Maddie came in and told me that she had overheard Liam apologizing to the neighbor girl for hurting her feelings. She repeated the entire exchange, including the girl accepting his apology and thanking him for it (she's ten). Maddie really wanted to tell John when he got home, but I asked her to wait and tell everyone at dinner.

At dinner, I asked everyone to tell something nice about someone else at the table and let Maddie begin. We all went around telling something nice about what another of us had done. Maddie, in thinking about it more carefully, came up with several other things she had noticed Liam doing for other people. I love her willingness to praise others unselfishly.