Norman — There are some things that we as a society do not do nearly as much as we should — say thank you, care about others and get involved. We should be more grateful and appreciative of the small things that touch our lives every day. We rush from place to place and activity to activity without thinking of anything but ourselves or the next thing we have to get done. I want to say thank you to the following people who do care and truly think of others:
Coach Gary Harper, Norman High School, for sitting with my son through surgery just to be there for him when he woke up and being involved with the high school kids.
Coach John Baldwin, Norman High School, for calling when he notices different behaviors with my son to ask if there is anything he can do to help and truly caring about the kids he works with everyday.
Marie, at the Mr. Shortstop on 24th Ave, for saying good morning with a smile every day and asking if I need quarters for the parking meters if she sees that I am dressed for court.
Tina and Lisa, Cleveland County Court Clerk’s Office, for smiling to everyone who comes to the counter for help and for going the extra mile when they don’t need to.
Ricky Jennings, Jennings Automotive and the staff at The Appliance Guys, both of these companies have told me when things don’t need to be fixed or I can do it myself instead of charging me when I wouldn’t know better.
Wanda Yeary, Legal Assistant, and Leanna Smoot, Clerk for Judge Janet Foss for smiling every day, even if they themselves are having a bad day and being helpful to anyone who needs it.
Drive-thru staff at McDonald’s on Main Street and Arby’s on Main Street for being polite and smiling when they are working jobs that most of us would never want.
Jessica Jameson, Allison Flanagan, Jean Miller, Sara Adams, Lisa Cook, Jeff Austin, and Jenny Crow for getting to know the kids and the families at Madison Elementary and being supportive of these kids from all different backgrounds.
Milly at Arvest Bank on Main Street for always having a smile and telling her customers to have a good day and knowing about their lives and their families.
Stephanie Smith and Connie Offenburger, Booster Club Moms for Norman High, for going out and raising money for our kids in what little spare time they have when trying to take care of their own families.
Cara Bowen, OU Student, for helping get my kids to gymnastics when she knows that they couldn’t be there due to my work schedule if not for her.
Dr. Ted Boehm, Oklahoma Sports and Orthopedics, for seeing the kids he treats after football games if they are injured and the parents are frantic and need him.
Amy Hobson, Norman Clinic, Nurse Practitioner, for making my kids feel like people, make them comfortable and truly care about her patients.
Mark Clayton, Baltimore Ravens, who comes to Norman to speak at the Fellowship of Christian athletes in his spare time and who, just because my son asked him, took him to lunch to talk to him about life and sports. He later attended a memorial service of another football player whose mom passed away just to be there for them.
Karen Proctor, community mom, who recently helped organize a memorial service for another mom who passed away of breast cancer that left five children behind.
These are the real heroes of our community for being kind, polite, caring and giving. We don’t know what is going on in the lives of the people we meet every day and we should be kind to everyone we meet. I was once the girl working in the office, the carhop at Sonic and the girl working at the convenience store and most people have no idea what a smile, thank you, have a good day and true caring means to others.
There are so many people in our everyday lives that we take for granted. Please take time to stop and say “how are you” and really listen to them, “thank you” for the service that they provide and the smile that they provide and “have a good day” because we all deserve kindness and respect. I thank those people in my everyday life that I spend mere minutes with that are kind and caring and who get involved when they don’t have to. We all need to be more like those people and just reach out. Norman is a very small community and we should strive to be like one big family to make this community and everyone in it a better place.
Christi Chesley, an attorney and municipal judge, lives in Norman.
