Starfish Mondays have RETURNED!

The Starfish Story

A man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.  He asked, "What are you doing?"  The youth replied, "Throwing starfish back into the ocean.  The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don't throw them back, they'll die."

"Son," the man said. "Don't you realize there are miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?  You can't make a difference!"

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said, "I made a difference for that one."

Starfish Mondays are BACK.  This time around, my very good friend Devon and I will be working together on this blog.  She lives in New Mexico and I live in Iowa - we will be completing the same act of kindness, but from two different cities.  Our hope is to reach others in a very positive way by acts of kindness and generosity, and to encourage our readers to make a difference as well.

A little backstory from Devon and me-

Devon was a regular reader of Starfish Mondays, and when I stopped writing, every now and then she would make a comment to me like, "Teri, why don't you bring the Starfish back?"  Or, "I miss reading your blog!"  One night we were having a very insightful conversation about how we live in a world where instant gratification seems to be the norm.  Everything is immediate.  We were even talking about how we would get upset over the smallest things that didn't happen in the amount of time we would have liked.  We knew this wasn't the attitude to have, but we had grown accustomed to instantaneous results.  Our conversation stuck in my head for a long time after that phone call and I had an "Aha!" moment.  It was time to bring back Starfish Mondays - only this time, it would be done as a duo.


"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my other would say to me, 'Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.'"
~Mr. Rogers

My hometown was hit with an EF-2 tornado last night.  The tornado was very close to my mom and dad's home/farm, but luckily it missed them.  Other people over by the lake were not so lucky.  One of my family's close friends lost his condo.  Fortunately, no injuries were reported.  Things can be replaced, but people CANNOT!







As I was chatting with Devon this evening and telling her about this devastation that hit so close to home, her immediate reaction was "What can we do for these people?"  You see, her family lost their treasured home in Colorado in a wild fire almost two years ago.  So, we decided that we would do what we could to help out.  We will be sending my family's friend a Target gift card.  It may not be much in the scheme of things, but every little bit counts.  And I know for a fact that my community will rally around the victims of this natural disaster.  Because that is what small Iowa towns do.