RAK

Peanut and I were the recipients of a little Random Act of Kindness today coming out of the grocery store. As we were returning our cart, a woman and her toddler who I had noticed at the checkout area stopped us and the woman handed me a package of Play-Doh. She told me she wanted to give Peanut a little Easter present because she had bought a bunch of stuff for her son and wanted to share some.

My first thought was How incredibly nice! I can't believe someone would do that! I thanked her profusely and Peanut was grinning as I handed it to him, so I knew she saw our gratitude, but then, as we walked off in opposite directions, I started to question why she would do that.

I had actually picked up that box of Play-Doh from the clearance aisle, where it was obviously misplaced and asked the cashier how much it was because I figured if it really was a deal, we could always use backup playdough. But when she told me it was $4, I decided I didn't want it since we didn't actually need it and it wasn't some crazy deal.

Had the woman overheard that and felt bad for me that I couldn't buy my child a $4 pack of playdough? Did we look destitute? We were on our way home from a 3.5 mile run so I'm sure my sweaty face and dishelved hair didn't look the greatest. And Peanut was still in his PJ's and wearing a slightly dirty sweatshirt that has gone through 3 kids. Maybe it wasn't that she thought that I couldn't afford the playdough, but that I couldn't manage to take care of my child or myself. I wondered if I should be offended, or feel guilty that she'd spent the money on someone who really didn't need it.

And then I had to stop myself. Because who am I to question why someone does something nice. I know how fun it is to do the random kind act. I know how good it feels and I know that whenever I do things for someone, I hope it makes them feel good, too. Whatever the woman's thoughts were, I'm sure it came from a place of kindness and her purpose wasn't to make me feel bad or guilty. And really, if I didn't overthink it, it did make me feel good. It's always nice to get a reminder that there are good people everywhere, doing little things every day that make someone else smile.

And now, Peanut and I are going to go play Play-Doh. Because the new stuff is always better than the old. And apparently, I have to help him make a white zebra with rainbow stripes because that is what is on the box, so that is obviously what this package is for.

How to Celebrate 38

I've seen posts and mentions of The Birthday Project kicking around Pinterest for a couple years now. People have taken the challenge to do random acts of kindness, one for each year they've been alive, on their birthday. Some stretch it out for the birthday month (I think when you start getting up there, it gets a lot harder to fit them in to one day), but the general idea is to spend the day doing things for others.

Well, since my birthday was on a Saturday this year, which meant I had the whole day with 4 partners in crime who had no choice but to join me (no, really, they were all pretty supportive), I decided this was how I wanted to celebrate 38. Because, honestly, birthdays as an adult aren't always that big of a deal, and this felt like it would be a big deal.  And it really was awesome. Bug pointed out about 1/2 way through the list, "This feels like a really special day. Not really a birthday, but special." Well, bud, special was what I was going for this year.

I did cheat a little and started on Friday, just because we had a couple things going on that day that fit with the service acts that wouldn't have worked for Saturday. And not all of the acts were random. Some were very deliberate because I wanted to be sure to thank certain people. One idea I saw when researching what types of things I could do was to think about the people or areas of life that make you feel blessed and find a way to serve them. The funny thing is, when I first started making a list of random acts, I wasn't sure how easy it would be to come up with 38 ideas, but as I targeted more specific people, it got very easy, and there are a lot more people or groups I wish I'd had time to do something for.

Some of the things we did were quick, and truly random, like leaving pennies by a couple fountains in Uptown with a note saying, "Make a wish!" and scattering change around a playground for kids to find (and as we know from experience, this can truly make their day!) We handed out cold waters and balloons and picked up trash.

Others took a lot more time and planning. I wrote a couple thank you notes to neighbors who have done something special lately. We made cookies for the fire department and nurses at the Children's Hospital, who all had helped us that day Peanut had all his seizures. I made up some "blessing bags" with snacks and hygiene products and we handed them out to some homeless men in Uptown. Daddy-o and I gave blood (maybe the kids favorite stop since they got to pig out on the cookies at the end.) We stopped by the farmer's market to pick up a few canary melons, which have been some our favorite fruits this summer, and then delivered them to the ladies that I'm assigned to visit from church.

Nothing cost all that much--biggest expense was the tip we left at dinner (and I was so happy that we got an awesome waitress that truly deserved a big tip for making our first visit to the restaurant a great experience.) Others were free--picking up dog poop on my morning walk (not just from my dog) only took a couple extra minutes.  One of the most appreciative responses--the pool crowd when we handed out cold watermelon.  Seriously, I want to bring a watermelon to the pool every weekend because it was such a simple thing to do and everyone was so excited and grateful for a cold treat.

And after a full, busy day, I have to say it was one of my favorite birthdays ever. Exhausting, but really rewarding. I hesitated to even blog about this because I didn't want to sound like I was trying to get recognition for what were largely secret services. I opted to write about it here instead of posting on Facebook because I know I have a smaller readership here, but really, I wanted to record this for our family's memories.  And in case anyone out there has thought of doing something like this, to let you know it really is worth it.

 None of these acts are going to change someone's life (well, except possibly the recipients of our blood donations). Finding a quarter won't help a kid go to college, and coming across an inspiring quote probably won't give someone a whole new outlook on life, but for the acts that we got to see the reaction, they did make people smile. I'm okay with just knowing that through small actions, I can make someone's day a little better. It feels good to make people smile. And yesterday, I got to make a lot of people smile. (And then we finished off the day with candles on cheesecake, which made ME smile.)