Today, I head over to the mall to pick up my camera. I hop out of my car, and start heading to the doors as this elderly woman walks towards me and expresses that she can’t find her car. I start by asking her if she has an alarm on her key chain to hopefully that could narrow down if it was in the area… but unfortunately she doesn’t have one. I show my condolences, and she starts to go on about how she has been walking around for a half hour looking for her car. I felt bad for her lost time, but was also worried about this woman’s safety at this point, so I offered to help her find it. The woman was worried she was being a bother, but I told her it wasn’t a problem… I had nothing important to do after work anyways. As we walked across the parking lot looking for a old green Toyota Corolla, she is telling me what stores she passed outside the mall before getting to Sears. We are approaching the entrance of Sears and after 15-30mins I spot her car… The little green Corolla with the small stripe along the side. I walk her up to the car to make sure it is the right one, and she ambushes me with a hug. She thanked me several times and joked about how she shouldn’t even be walking because she has had two hip replacements. (I have been very supportive of the whole Karri Hour movement and think it is a great idea. It has been on my mind for a while now, andtalked to Mr. Oksanen about how I loved that it celebrated Karri’s life in one of the most positive and constructive ways.
I had my Karri hour moment today but found myself feeling awkward as I went to write it. I didn’t want it to look like a self-proclamation of a good deed, worried that it would be interpreted as being done for the wrong reasons. I debated whether to share my story or not as I wandered through the site, and stumbled upon a comment that Mr. Oksanen had posted saying, ” It gives our family a very good , healing and proud feeling when we read what you are doing or planning to do to honour Karri’s memory and help our world.”
Just as the whole Oksanen family is supporting Karri’s life and the movement that it has created, we should also all take the time to support the family, as Karri would have…by bringing a smile to their faces! I hope that by expressing my insecurities about positing a story more people would be encouraged to do so.)
Morganne Linthwaite
Morganne, I totally understand your hesitation to post but thank you so much for sharing! As I now live looking for “Karri Hour” moments, I have found that I am doing things I probably would have done before – letting people in, in traffic, letting someone ahead in the grocery line, holding a door and generally being kinder to people. Doing these things before would make me feel good just by simply helping, now I am rewarded twice because I am also reminded of my beautiful nephew. So when I do something and quietly say to myself “Karri Hour”, I am benefiting more than the person I just helped and I’m okay with that!!! We both leave the situation with a smile and the knowledge that there are kind and beautiful people in our world. Thanks for being one of them and thanks again for your post.
Aunt Cher