Dear Anonymous,

That was really sweet of you. Thank you, thank you.

The Oprah Project

Remember last week when I wrote this post after watching Oprah? I mentioned how cool it would be to have enough money to be able to surprise people and make their day. That night before falling asleep, I got an idea.

Stupid me, I don't need money to surprise people and make their day. Sure, it would totally be more exciting if I could do big, elaborate surprises (you know I like surprising people, right?), but people like little surprises too, even small gestures to know that someone was thinking of them.

I decided I was going to be "Oprah" for a week - minus the camera crew, and high heels. I think you should play along with me too, it will be so much fun.

Here's the deal. Every day this week I'm going to think of someone I can surprise with something that will make their day (or hour, whatever). It's been so fun just to think of some ideas and people I could help that I'm going to have to narrow down the list. It's not going to be anything huge, just something simple that will hopefully be a little bit helpful.

Won't this be fun?

Come on. Be "Oprah" with me.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Shirley, Linda, & Me - Summer 2008

Have I told you about my great neighbors?

We moved in two years ago in March, and a few days later Chris and Linda (our immediate next door neighbors) showed up at our door with brownies. Shirley and Mark moved back into their house two houses down that August.

We have fun with our neighbors, you need neighbors like them too. We've done a progressive dinner, poker nights (I'm trying to get them to start wagering stuff like candy, cookies, or acts of service, i.e. lawn mowing, weeding, dinner - no high rollers in this group), we do girls night out, helped each other out with kids, or cups of sugar, go shopping together, we walked together last year, Linda started spinning with me, and other fun things like camping has been on the agenda for a while... Last year I had an anniversary dinner to celebrate our one year of being neighbors. "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..." was on the front of the invitation. Rolls of toilet paper were the favors (first year gift is paper).

This is the sweetest... I came home a few days after my mom's funeral to find Chris mowing our lawn. Isn't that the nicest thing ever? Linda and Shirley also bought me some beautiful azaelas. Then, while I was in Hawaii, Shirley's son mowed our lawn! They thought John looked so tired from watching the kids for so long, and knew he hadn't had a chance to do it, so they mowed our lawn! (I told them even if they mowed it because they were embarrassed our grass was so tall, I still appreciated it!!!) They have done other random acts of kindness too! Also, because my kids are the youngest I benefit from great hand-me-down toys. My other neighbors immediately next to us occassionally weed eat around some of our house, usually always around the sand box. (John has had a weed eater for one year, and never used it, because it won't work for some reason, it may be an operator error...) They also gave us all of their old Disney movies for Trevan, and some shelves they were going to throw away to use for my business. They are so nice too. Three houses up is a couple who go to the same church as us, so it's fun to have even more friendly faces on the street. Our neighbor across the street is a painter and he helped John paint our stairwell that was too high for John to paint.

Seriously, I have the best neighbors. They aren't allowed to move, unless I do first, then they have to move where I do.

Don't you want to be our neighbor?

Random Acts of Kindness - The Report

I will kick off the morning by sharing a random act of kindness.

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I don't have anything earth shaking to report for my random act of kindness challenge. I realized after I posted on Monday, I picked the worst day for me. Mondays are laundry/cleaning days, and I don’t really go out. So, I had to think of stuff I could do at home, as I did the laundry, but I carried it over to yesterday too.

The Report

1. To be more prepared for when I see people asking for money, I put five granola bars in the glove box. I can now easily reach over and get one out and hand it out of my window when I pass someone.

2. I made John’s breakfast (nothing fancy, just toast on the go), and packed his lunch. I did add a few chocolates to make it a little more special. I knew he’d appreciate those.

3. I also sent him an email at work to tell him thank you for being such a good husband and father. I need to do that more.

4. As I sent my email, Trevan was next to me, and I asked him if he wanted to send Daddy an email at work. Here is what Trevan sent.

"I want to give him a robot."

"I want him to have some more clocks." (John loved this one because the kids fight over who gets to play with his alarm clock in the mornings.)

"I want him to have more clothes in his drawers."

TREVAN

(and he typed his own name)

John called laughing. So, I think we brightened his day a little bit.

5. After my spin class I ran to get as many people's wipes that I could.

6. I took extra time out to read Trevan some books and hold Mallary a little longer than I normally would.

7. When I went out, I tried to remember to smile at the people I passed, but that is a hard one! After like two smiles, I completely forgot.

8. MY FAVORITE: I try to teach Trevan about serving and making other people happy. We found out that one of Trevan's little friends was sick, so while we were at the store I asked Trevan if he would like to pick out a balloon and a piece of candy to take to her to help her feel better. He wanted to get her a Cars or a Spiderman balloon, (I had to remind him it was for her and not him) and then he settled on a spongebob balloon and reeses cups. Then, on the way to their house, all of a sudden Trevan goes, “I don’t feel good...” Worried, I turned around to see a frown on his face, and then he finishes with, “I need someone to give me a balloon.” He followed with his mischievous little smile.

It was absolutely adorable watching him run up their driveway and ring the doorbell. He told her, "I hope you feel better soon." (After a few prompts from me in the car saying, "tell her.") It was so cute to see his big smile as he ran back down the driveway and got into the car.

I asked him how he thought that made her feel, and he answered in his sing songy voice, "Happy!" "How did it make you feel?" I asked. He replied again in his sing songy voice, "Happy!" After about a minute he added, "But, I still want someone to give me a balloon."

He told me he wanted to do something for another one of his friends. I told him to think of something that didn’t cost any money. He said, “I could give him one of my Star Wars toys.”

"Are you sure you want to do that?" I asked.

“Yes!”

“Wouldn’t that make you sad?” I had to ask just to be sure.

He quickly responded in his squealy voice, “No, because he would be so happy!”

Like I said, I didn't move any mountains, and honestly, I think I did myself the greatest service. Since I spent most of the day thinking of how I could serve someone else, I didn’t dwell on things that were bothering me. I wasn't just thinking about me and how I wasn't able to get anything done, and what was getting on my nerves, and having to change another disgusting diaper, etc. I found that I was more patient with my kids too. It was hard for me to get really upset about something where just seconds before I was thinking of how I could make someone else happy. All day I just kept thinking of ways I could serve someone else, and the person I really ended up helping was myself.

Random Acts of Kindness

This is what I found in my mailbox on Saturday.

Here's the story:

John and I don't have "real" cell phones. We use the kinds you have to pay for as you use them. They are only for emergencies (like when I find a great deal while shopping, I call him to say, "I think we need these Christmas dishes."). We take them with us when we travel, but they are rarely turned on.

Recently, we lost my cell phone, or I should say John lost my cell phone. I then got an email that said it was past time to top up (pay for your continued service). I didn't want to pay for my cell phone if it was somewhere smashed in a parking lot. So, we looked and looked and never found. The thing is, if you don't top up, you lose your service, and can't get the same phone number back, or something like that. So, I gave up.

Last Friday, John finds the cell phone, in a place I had looked three times. Saturday, I open the mailbox and find that my phone had been given a free $10 top up. WHAT?? They saved my phone from losing service! Thank you Virgin Mobile! I love your rockin' customer service, and your random acts of kindness.

It made me feel so good, as if I had won the lottery or something, not just $10. Coincidentally, I have been thinking about random acts of service recently because of part of a show I watched last week, ABC's, What Would You Do? THIS video clip brought me to tears! It is well worth the ENTIRE seven minutes to watch, and ask yourself, "What would you do?" So, stop reading this, and watch the video, then you can come back and finish reading. Or, just watch the video and don't come back, but watch the video.

From an early age I witnessed my mom performing random acts of kindness. I have no doubt, that my mom would have been a Linda Hamilton from the video.

Once, while waiting for a layover in a Chicago train station my mother was approached by a woman asking for money, my mother declined, but instead took her to a place in the station and fed her breakfast. The thing is, she didn't just buy her breakfast, she sat with her while she ate, and then of all things gave the woman, a complete stranger, a hug and a kiss when they parted. (My mom had no problem giving people she had just met a kiss on the cheek, she was a tiny bundle of love, my mom.) The story does not stop here. She was then approached by a mother with a little girl who also asked for money, she took them and fed them too

In recent emails, my dad has shared some other random acts of service my mother rendered.

"One time your mother had me turn around and go back because I hadn't stopped and given a man holding a sign wanting money. She said I had missed an easy chance to serve and receive blessings."

In another email, he sent this, I don't know if it was the same man asking for money or not;

"Mom told me once when I questioned whether it was appropriate to give some money to a well dressed man in Santa Barbara, CA. who sat on the pier and asked us. She said, "We are not here to judge, we are here to serve!" I went to give the man some money."

On family vacations we often stopped and ate meals, picnic style, at public parks. We were often approached by people asking for food, and while I was a little leary having "these" people so close to us, my mother and father would treat them as if they were a guest in our home, not taking a second thought to it, preparing them a sandwhich and piling chips onto a plate for them. I remember once, one man just kept saying, "I could just tell you were good people," and "I knew you were good Christian people." One man even said to my father, "You must be a preacher or a pastor or something." Even though I was always a little nervous (remember, I'm paranoid. Even back then), I remember feeling so good inside, and proud that my parents were such kind people.

Don't we sometimes think we are better than people we see holding signs asking for money? If I am being honest, I do. I imagine myself saying to the person, "The MacDonald's you are standing next to has a 'Now Hiring" sign in the window." I don't always think that, but I am a little embarrassed to admit that I do sometimes. But, usually the thought of my mother makes me feel guilty that I don't have a granola bar to offer out of the window. That is one thing I loved about that video clip, Linda Hamilton, a sometimes homeless person, was the one that was "better" than all of those passerbys that day.

Sure, occassionally I hand change out of the window, but not often enough. I do it more often if John is driving, I am a slightly paranoid person. Another time, I just thought of (I told you there may be long posts) we were driving to California with my sister in law, and we were in the middle of Nevada, driving slowly, getting ready to pass an accident on the side of the road. We could see it looked like a mother and a few children standing out in the heat. Automatically, my sister in law said, "we should give them some water and snacks for the kids." So, we gathered some stuff up and handed it to them. I was embarrassed I didn't think of it first.

There have been so many times where I have talked to a friend on the phone in the morning and heard they were sick or had a cold, and I would end the conversation with, "hope you feel better." Later that evening, or a day later it would hit me, "I should have made them some soup or something." It really bugs me that that would not be my first thought after hanging up the phone when talking to them. I know my mother would have thought of that.

So, my challenge for myself today is to perform a random act of kindness, and it could be more than one "act" of kindness. I will report back to you on Wednesday. Feel free to play along. You can report back here, or put it on your own blog. Today, I am going to pay it forward (thank you, Virgin Mobile), pass it on, and look for ways I can perform random acts of service.