RAK Week 4

A week of blessings: both planned and unplanned options for Random Acts of Kindness.

My neighbor knocked on my door late one afternoon asking for $20 to get her through.

I'm typically a skeptic, especially when asking directly for cash, but her stopping by allowed me the chance to talk with her (we're usually passing each other on our way to other things) and it gave me the chance to learn and know her story.

The Blood Center offered me an orchid plant, since they'd had some recently donated to them, at the end of my platelet donation. It was pretty neat to have a blessing in return this time.

I've missed chances to donate to friends' causes because I felt I needed to do more than I really could. A terrible excuse. I didn't have much, but this week, I did help a friend get a little closer to her goal.

https://www.austinovertheedge.com/Linda/aboutme.cfm

RAK Week 3

My mailman is such a sweet person I thought I'd leave a small treat one day for him.

I love getting mail. It's like a surprise (even if it is junk mail mostly) so to return the surprises he leaves and his sweet spirit every time I see him I baked up some bite-sized peanut butter chocolate chip cookies :)

The fun thing about RAK is sometimes it touches more than 1 person and sometimes you get to see the result (they were both kind enough to write a quick Thank You)

Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week 2

I'm a bit behind in general posting, but regardless of whether it is shared or not I've still immensely enjoyed my RAK project. Week 2 was an easy decision for me - it was something I had planned for a while but I was waiting on timing and a paycheck to hit.

I scheduled a visit to see my Grandmother this summer over July 4th holiday. I tried being creative and origami-ing the itinerary to tuck into a card, but the attempts were lumps of folded mess so I opted for a straight-forward handwritten card.

My mother's mother passed away when I was very young, and maybe that contributes to some of the closeness I feel toward my paternal Grandmother. Far more than attachment of being the surviving family matriarch, though, I fully credit her with the genetic basis for my intelligence, wit, carefree but responsible attitude, and most other positive characteristics passed via my father and manifested in yet another generation: Me.

I was beyond blessed to spend time with her last year over a weekend and told myself I would again make a trip, regardless of money or time needed to squeeze every beautiful second I reasonably can with her. She is fighting for her life right now. Nothing dulls the news of serious illness in a family member, particularly someone so close to your heart.

She has always believed in me, always assured me that I can do and reach whatever I want, and never issued even a whisper of discouragement. The beautiful memories of childhood visits to her house on the Maryland beach survive carefully tucked away in my mind and I made it my mission to not let anything - money, excuses, "no time" - come between developing even more fond moments. Not for anyone dear to me, and especially her.

It's hard to call it an act of kindness but maybe we'll just tag it as a deeply-deserved moment of love. She is and will always be my hero. Cannot wait for July to roll around.

Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week 1

Among the many food challenges and other resolutions I have mid-year challenged myself to look outside my own world, and sometimes my own circles of friends and influences and make someone else's life a little happier. I'm going to try and find at least 1 thing/week to share.

It would be great to pass the contagion on to others - to think about and offer out random acts of kindness - for your friends/for strangers but in any case it's my own personal journey and I can't wait!

Some of these offerings will be free, some will cost a few dollars, and others will be a personal sacrifice for me. For every act, though, I hope to enrich my life by finding a focus outside of myself. Very excited for this --- we'll see how it goes!

Week 1 (I'm a little behind): Green cookies on St. Paddy's Day to the local fire department who I KNOW is acutely-familiar with my apartment complex :)
The recipe was from the back of the Costco chocolate chip bag (like 8 pounds!) I had the wild idea to buy? A little lotta green food coloring and voila! They were still warm when I dropped them off...