wrote eight words that would later prove to be life changing for me:“kindness creates happiness”and“live a life of kindness”. It was the answer I had been looking for. The secret to inner peace and lasting happiness was kindness. Not“random acts of ”or simply being nice，but rather as a way of life. I had already known the benefits of kindness through studying many eastern philosophies，but I had never actually considered it as a lifestyle.
But，this day was just beginning.
Just thirty minutes after my mini-epiphany，my wife and I arrived at our original destination—a country garden show. After walking around for just a few minutes，a gentle faced 60-something looking man waved me over to the front porch of his farmhouse，for no apparent reason. The entire setting was like a scene out of an old movie—weathered rocking chairs—the smell of cookies baking—and a coon cat that looked as old as the farmhouse itself.“Let her look around. Come and sit with me. ”he said.