Day 22: Be Kind...It Really Is That Simple

Some conversations aren't planned...they simply unfold.

Today begins with another beautiful love letter from my dear friend Rebecca—a reminder of the incredible impact one person can have on another—before taking an unexpected turn through everyday life. From witnessing a frightening moment at the local pool, to an incredibly kind cashier at Meijer, to reflecting on social media, today's conversation is a reminder that every interaction matters. And because life always has a way of keeping things interesting, I also share the story of the tiny mouse that decided to move into our house overnight.

If today's episode leaves you with one takeaway, let it be this:

Kindness costs nothing...but it can mean everything to someone else.

Thank you to Rebecca for sponsoring this special podcast series and believing in this little dream. Your friendship, encouragement, and unwavering belief in this podcast continue to inspire me every single day.

As always, thank you for spending 10 unedited minutes with me. Until next time...choose kindness.

♥️

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to another edition of 10 Unedited Minutes with Marlena. It is Saturday, July 18th. I'm recording a little bit later in the afternoon today because I had to get some stuff done and we might get into that later. But uh first, I honestly do not know where this podcast is going to lead. The only thing I know of right now is that we have a love letter to read. If you've been following along, uh we are doing a series within a series of my friend Rebecca, who back in 2017 spent the entire month of February writing one love letter each day to people she loves. Where does Rebecca come into this podcast? She has graciously agreed to sponsor this podcast for two months. And um I love her for it. She is a very dear friend of mine and she believes in me. She loves this work that I'm doing. She wants to see it continue. So here we go. And just a little side note today: if you see me like looking around, I have three three things going here. I have my phone recording for YouTube, my tablet. I have it recording in um landscape mode because I want to try uh posting that to TikTok for promotions and stuff. So this is an A-B test today, okay? And then I also have my computer where I am um recording my voice. So let's get into it. Let's get into one of these love letters. Okay, so Rebecca wrote on February 4th, Dear Jessica, one of the first images I saw today was of my oldest sister writing a giant mechanical jackrabbit. Let's just let that sink in for a minute. Because it will sink down deep into the very root of who we are as siblings, in love with each other and with life and all its possibilities. I love it that your response to any negative experience or heartache is to counter it with something ex extraordinarily fun or unexpected. I love it that you are game for almost anything. I love it that detail and order and style also matter to you. I really love it that you'd be the first one to point out that this was actually a giant mechanical mythical jackalobe you were writing. Facts matter, you know. I'm so glad you were able to stay with me when you visited Ohio. Suck it, Sister Kendra. You were there for me in uncountable ways, from watching Max while I was at meetings to staving off my loneliness during Dan's sea voyage, to running to the grocery store for something that made our meals together even better. It was such fun to cook for you, because if there's one thing Conklins do to show love for each other is that. That we marched hand in hand in a sister event to the heart of the movement in our in our nation's capital seems all the more perfect. It nearly matches the time that you took me by the hand and led me across the partially exposed bed of the still strongly flowing Mommy River on foot. Or when you took me by the hand and yelled Geronimo and jumped sorry, Rebecca, and jumped us off the hayloft into a pile of straw below. Or any of the other times Daddy would rather not know about. And you taught me how to read. I've been doing it vi verociously ever since, but admittedly not even as much as my big sister does. The next time you're visiting here, we're going straight to that place that makes plaster molds, and I'm getting one of your hand. I'm going to hold on to you forever. I love you, Jesse. Always Rebecca. Another good one, girlfriend. Another good one. And yeah, I'm sure there are lots of times that your daddy would rather not know about, um, considering the bond you have with all of your sisters. And I had the privilege of witnessing that bond uh many times, and it's beautiful, it's inspiring, and just like this letter. You're beautiful and you are inspiring. So today, what are we going to talk about? We are going to talk about um I wanna I wanna um jump off of what we talked about yesterday, and that was being kind. So, as you all know, I uh do some content management for the Bluffton icon, which is our local online newspaper, and there is something going on with swimming these days, you guys. We have a beautiful community pool in Bluffton. My girls go there quite a bit. Um, we go there quite a bit. We used to get season passes, and then there's also a beautiful community pool in Ada. So the icon, there's a Bluffton icon online newspaper, and then there's an Ada icon online newspaper. And I uh do content management for both. So a couple weeks ago I put a um press release in about some things that were happening at the Ada public pool. And it was all about children being unruly and disrespectful. And just today I read a story on there about the Bluffton community pool, and um one of our local churches graciously rents that pool. I'm not sure if it's once it used to be once a week, I think. And they would do youth group there, and my girls would go every time. They loved it. It was free entrance into the pool. You know, a lot of your friends went there, and it was, you know, a church group. Well, apparently they are canceling the next one because there was some uh trouble at the last one where kiddos were disrespectful. And just the other day, uh, we were there and they emptied the pool. They they made everybody get out of the pool because there was a missing child. And I panicked. I'm a mother, right? Like when you say there's a missing child and there's a body of water around, your mind instantly goes there. So we got everybody out of the pool. The lifeguards did their thing. This uh child was not in the pool, so they proceeded to uh they per I don't think my um computer is recognizing my microphone, so I hope to God that is recording. Anyway, so the lifeguards proceeded to uh look outside of the pool for this missing child. And we were out of the pool for a good 45 minutes, and it turns out the child decided to leave the pool and go to their grandmother's house. And first of all, I commend those lifeguards for instantly taking action on a missing child, instantly. And second of all, I think the uh process that was followed was absolutely necessary and absolutely um needed. However, I can't help but think why didn't that child tell somebody? Why didn't they tell? Obviously, there was a guardian there that was watching out for them because they reported them missing. Why didn't that child tell them? I I really just am saddened by the state of our um upcoming youth. And I know we say that all the time. Like people back in the 60s were saying that, people in the 90s were saying that. I I really do feel like uh social media is um causing our people to not be so kind, and I think that is because they don't have to have a face-to-face conversation. There is a screen between every single one of them. So be kind, people. Can we just be kind? Can we think about what happened yesterday when I was kind and my husband was kind, and that cashier at Meyer was so kind, like it it takes zero dollars to just be kind, and now something funny. So my daughter's boyfriend um is living here, and he gets up early in the morning sometimes to go to work, and yesterday he told my daughter that there was a rat in the sink, in the bathroom sink. I freaked out because when I hear rat, I hear like a monster. When in reality, my daughter looks at mice and thinks rats. Well, there was a mouse in the sink. So my husband bolted into action. We got poison put out everywhere, all the way around the house, in the garage, everywhere. And I think the reason is because uh the farmer next door uh harvested. So it's gonna happen, right? We live out in the country, it's gonna happen. Then this morning, my daughter's boyfriend sends my daughter three videos of this teeny tiny mouse in the second sink of our master bathroom. And I freaked out. I said, get some traps put in there. Get some traps. So we got mouse traps put in the bathroom sink and around the sink, and we better catch this little bugger because I don't do mice, guys. I don't do mice. They freak me out, they're disgusting. So let's say some prayers that we catch our little mouse, okay? Alright, we're gonna end it there today. Remember, be kind, be kind. And even though this microphone doesn't work, I guess it was good visual, whatever. So I love you guys. I hope you enjoy your weekend. It is Saturday. Remember, I won't be recording tomorrow. I take Sunday off, and we'll be back on Monday. So I love you. Pray for me. I pray for you every day, and we'll see you Sunday. Bye.