I
n the middle of his 11thgrade school year, Paul’s father was transferred from his job. Paul was forced to his spot on the varsity basketball team, his guitar teacher, his circle of best friends his sweetheart whom he had been dating for two years. He was devastated to say the least.
Then one morning Paul woke up with a plan. It was his birthday, but he was convinced it wouldn’t be much of a birthday because he didn’t have any friends. His plan would solve that.
His father reassured Paul. “It’ll be okay. You and your mother can have cake and ice cream this afternoon.” But Paul still was not happy.
As he was leaving for work, the father saw a young man in the neighborhood he barely knew. He asked the teenager to drop by that afternoon for cake and ice cream. “It’s my son’s birthday,” he said.
Later that day, the father had a phone call at work. His wife said, “I don’t know what you did, but ten kids from high school and two basketball coaches showed up here this afternoon for Paul’s birthday party – with gifts.”
It seems the neighbor boy told his mother he had been invited to a birthday party. She called others in the small party. She had occasionally seen Paul shooting baskets in the driveway, so she also phoned the basketball coaches to tell them he was a pretty good player and they should probably take a look.
When Paul’s father arrived home that evening, he was greeted by an excited son who said, “Dad, this has been one of the best days of my whole life. A girl even asked me to the girl’s choice spring dance.”
The point is it doesn’t take much to make every day a best day for someone. All it makes is an invitation, a phone call, a thank-you note, a compliment or a word of encouragement.
Make today a best day for someone new in your neighborhood, or a relative who may ill, or an acquaintance. How much time and effort does it take on your part to let someone know you care?
Amazingly, Paul’s plan for that day was to kill himself after school. The weeks of loneliness had come to a head and he had been overwhelmed with despair. Luckily, things turned out the way they did.
It has been many years since then and Paul is now married with four beautiful children of his own. All of them are certainly glad he didn’t give up in high school!