Connected but so dis-connected

 While Grandpappy Happy and I were having dinner in a local "family" restaurant , sitting at a table near us was a family of four mother, father, son and daughter.
The kids were either texting or playing a game on their phones and the father was talking to someone on the phone and the mother was just sitting there. I couldn't help but think " the family is "together" but completely dis-connected". I also thought what a good time it would be for them to visit as a family.
I personally think that today more than any other time we need to build our family relationships and have a genuine interest in each other.
Our children inherently crave our love and attention, they also need our guidance. One of the best ways to give them that is to communicate with them.
I know it may seem  old fashioned, but meal time is a perfect time to visit with the family. You may ask yes, but what do you talk about ?
How about who you saw during the day, or what you did at work or school or maybe on the way to or from there.
It might be something you saw, an example is one day Grandpappy Happy and I were driving somewhere when we had to stop for a red light, there was a man on the side of the street with a sign that said
" HUNGRY" There was a van ahead of us at the light and the driver jumped out of his van, opened the back and took two sandwiches and a cold drink out of a cooler and ran it over to the " hungry" man. Then when the light turned green drove off to where ever he was going.
I thought what a compassionate thing to do.
You may not see anything like that, but perhaps something that you would like to share. You might think nothing interesting ever happens to me, well maybe what you see or do is interesting to someone in the family. You know it's the little things that can bring us together, it doesn't have to be a big thing.
The important thing is that we are "connected" as a family and friends.
Ask yourself how well do I really " know" my family.
I am not opposed to all the electronic things we have today, I think they are wonderful but I do think being "connected" as a family is more important .
That's my thought, what is yours on the subject ?

Missed Opportunity

A while back I was pushing a grocery cart down one of the main isles in our local grocery when all of a sudden from a side isle zooms a cart out, almost hitting my cart. A boy probably about 10 or 11 was pushing it, his mother was right  behind him and seeing what happened, she looked at me shrugged her shoulders and just grinned.

I thought what has happened to common courtesy which makes life more pleasant.

First of all the boy should have known better than to be "zooming" a cart in the store where he could have hurt someone and the least he could have done was be polite enough to say excuse me.
His mother had a perfect opportunity to have taught him common courtesy ( which he should have already known) but she missed the opportunity.

On another day Grandpappy Happy and I were coming out of a store and a mother with a little girl probably about 5 or 6 were walking ahead of us, the little girl saw us and she waited and held the door open for us.
We of course praised the little girl for being so thoughtful and polite and praised the mother for teaching her daughter common courtesy. I believe when a child learns things like that at a early age, they will always practice what they learn through out life, it just becomes part of who they are.
It is amazing how small common courtesies add pleasure to our lives.
I wish we would all be a little more thoughtful of others, it makes life so much more pleasant.