Thank you to everyone who shared a story with me. I’ve copied the comments from yesterday here plus had a couple more to add. Warm fuzzies abound. Read on.
A new mother (Mommy One) has taken advantage of technology innovations and purchased an array of baby monitors designed to ensure her baby breathes well through the night. I can only imagine the kind of rest this allows for new parents. I remember Martie and Coach getting up all night every night to check on their babies’ breathing for years. I have to confess I still do it when I spend the night and Pooh and Tigger are ten and seven. Anyway, Mommy One tested three different monitors before deciding on the one she wanted to use full time. She is a member of a mommy message board and interacts with other new mothers there. One such mother (Mommy Two) was expressing her sadness for a friend who lost her baby to SIDS and in doing so expressed her fear of the same fate for her baby. She gets very little rest because of her worry and mentioned that the monitors were too expensive for her. Mommy One sent Mommy Two one of her extras, the exact monitor she wanted as a Christmas gift today.
FREDDIE’S RAK – I keep hearing that the most precious gift someone can give you is their time, and in this fast-paced world we live in, I firmly believe that’s true. I have a friend who has an amazing family, runs an office with little help, volunteers what little time she has to professional organizations and her church, and still takes the time to sit and have lunch with me and focus on me and my life. She is an amazing individual and I am truly blessed to have her in my life.
I also have this other amazing friend who works a job she has learned to enjoy, is writing a book that is going to be on the shelves of every woman in the US, is an amazing aunt and sister, and took time last Saturday to help me shop for my little sister’s birthday gifts. I am so blessed with people who are so giving of their time!
A woman has two children, ages ten and fifteen. Today she was struggling over how to provide Christmas gifts for her children. She and her husband were counting on a bonus that did not materialize and all of their other money is earmarked for medical bills incurred this summer. She was teary-eyed and mentioned it to a co-worker who in turn mentioned it to another who in turn visited every executive in the office and collected $350 in three minutes. The mother was presented with the money in a closed office meeting and left the workplace, overwhelmed.
STUDIO BUKOWSKI’S RAK – Probably one of the kindest things I have ever experienced happened after my dad passed away. A friend gave me the book (to help comfort me in my grief) that was given to him after his beloved wife passed away. He said it was time to pass it on to someone else who needed it and the note he included brought tears to my eyes.
Jimmie was discussing her Random Acts of Kindness with her boss today and mentioned her own good fortune with the plane ticket and the pedicure and the grocery money. Her boss asked how the return flight was paid for and then offered the Southwest points to get her home.
BOOTSIE’S RAK – Last Christmas our office had a tacky holiday sweater contest with a $50 gift card prize. One of my friends won the gift card. Later that afternoon that very same gift card was placed on my desk in an unsigned card. The only reason I know it was the same gift card is because I was on the party committee and had seen the gift card before it was awarded. My friend knew we were struggling and wouldn’t take an outright gift, so she “anonymously” gave me the gift card. She still doesn’t know that I know it was her and I won’t tell her because I think that “random acts of kindness” make everyone involved feel good.
Needless to say, Jimmie did a lot of nose-blowing today.
If you missed your chance and have something to send in, please still do so. My cheeks hurt from the smiling but I’ll take that pain any day. I love this.
Also, who is proud to be a Titan now?
Love, Jimmie 