b'A SIMPLE ACT OFKindnessBy Jennifer Messing-BuehlerS omeone posted on our neighborhood app about buttons. Someone was giving buttons away. So many people hopped on that thread and wanted these buttons. One lady said her dementia mother loves doing crafts with them. A different comment said a teacher would love to do crafts with her students. Another comment said a mother would love them for her son, for counting and sorting colors, etc. and it went on and on!But, down the thread, it showed that the buttons had already found owners. So, I posted an Amazon link for plastic buttons, because my son loves playing with them. You can buy 700 of them for $7.00. So if anyone wanted some, I just wanted to give them a link for something so great and affordable. Little did I know, that one lady would comment back, asking if I had a little kid around four or five because she had a duplicate of The Button Box book, and she would like to give it to us.That perfect stranger had no idea what one kind gesture would do and at the time I didnt either. I just thought it was so nice, and couldnt wait to read a new book to my son. Yes, I buy buttons on Amazon cheap buttons just for my son to glue and play with.Little did she know, I had my grandmothers sewing machine, and all of her supplies sitting neatly in my bedroom. Even though its been quite a few years I could never bring myself to look through her things. It just sat there, untouched. Just thinking of opening a drawer brought such heartache that I didnt want to feel.The first page of The Button Box says that the grandmother had a box of buttons that her grandchild loved to play with and my son was so interested in the book. After reading The Button Box I went and looked in her things, and there it was a button box, full of hundreds of miscellaneous buttons. Exactly like the one in the book.My five-year-old played with it for two hours straight last night. It wouldve been longer, but it was bedtime. I had to hide my tears so many times. My five-year-old is my only son that never met her. She passed away before he was born. My grandfather passed away as well. Cancer took them both but I show him pictures and talk about them often. I told him whose buttons they were.As he was playing with the buttons, thoughts drifted through my mind. Where have these buttons been? Was this one from my grandfathers coat? Was that one from my grandmothers blouse?I came to the button on a string page of the book. and then I realized why there was a long string inside the box with hundreds of buttons.Did I play this game when I was little? It felt like the memories came flooding back.Anyone who has read the book knows what Im talking about I got goosebumps seeing that string. It was there waiting to be played with this whole time. one string and hundreds of buttons! Watching my son play with these buttons that were once held in my grandmothers hands was priceless.So, thank you to the stranger who gave me the book. One kind gesture was worth more in memories than I could ever imagine. Even though my eyes swelled with tears. heartwarming memories overwhelmed me even more. It felt like my grandmother was there with us. So, thank you not only for the book but for finally pushing me to open up some of her things. It was so beautiful. If she wasnt so kind, those buttons would still be sitting in the drawer.You never know what one act of kindness could do. It may seem so simple at the moment but in another persons eyes, it could mean the world! ArizonaRealCountry.com December 2020 23'