Thursday, November 18, 2010

thanksgiving Countdown #16...

Today's thankful post...is for fair trade. Not the kind that helps sustain 3rd world countries (although that is wonderful too). The fair trade I am talking about is when a friend does something helpful for you (usually watch your kids) and you can fairly do something helpful for them too.

I am not shy about asking friends for help. "Can you watch Evie while I take Gavin into Tokyo?" seems to come out of my mouth a lot this past week. And I only have a handful of friends in Japan I can ask this...so the same people usually hear the request. And I did my fair share of asking for babysitting favors in Ohio. I can't even count how many times Angie listened to the monitor (aka babysitting while Evie was asleep in her crib), watched the kids for minutes or hours - as well as many other friends (Ashli, Autumm, Dana, Jessica, Christa....seriously - too many to count). So I am thankful for when I can pay back the favor and make it seem a little more fair!!!

My friend, Amy, ended up being the Evelyn watcher today. So I was thrilled when she asked if I could watch her kids for a bit tomorrow so she could go shopping with her husband. OF COURSE! It makes me feel better knowing I can help out too and I am not always the one asking. I will ALWAYS try to help out (even if it is not reciprocated) but it makes me feel better, like the world is rotating on the correct axis, when fair trade works out. And I have learned to ask about the trade first, before just asking about a favor... "Jami, can I take your kids for you today so you can get stuff done, and then trade tomorrow? I need Gavin to go to a friend's house while I am in culture club"...you get the point! So I love when people take me up on it :-)

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