Monday, September 23, 2013

38 x 38 - 12 Random Acts of Kindness

I like to think of myself as a nice, optimistic, kind-hearted, thankful person. I hand write my thank you notes. I tell people I appreciate them. I put a lot of thought into my gifts (usually).

But as I made my annual bucket list, I thought maybe I should do more. So I added "Practice 12 Random Acts of Kindness." My plan was to do one a month. It was September and I hadn't even started.

That's when I got a call from my good friend Stacy who had a brilliant idea. Stacy had created a list similar to mine and had "Be a Better Person" and she saw a way to tie them in together. She suggested we take two weeks, each of us come up with 12, and then we'd meet up on a Sunday and do them together.

Stacy being an ultra-organized, super-crafty, talented person had hers done in no time. I was dying to know what her 12 were (especially since I hated to admit I was waiting until the last minute). I was sure hers were cute, wonderful, and very very creative. Gah! Pressure!

So two days before our "ROAK" meetup, I got started. I packed all my stuff up and took it to football practice with me. There, I sat and wrote silly notes to no one in particular:
You are amazing, you rock, stunning, fabulous!
And on Sunday, I hung them in a bathroom at a busy grocery store.

 My hope was that someone out grocery shopping on a Sunday when they'd rather be at home in pajamas would see my notes and smile.

This was starting to get fun so next I made some silly notes to give some encouragement at the gym. I mean if someone was willing to go to the gym on a Sunday, weren't they totally deserving of a compliment. My notes said things like "one more mile" or "push just a little further, you've got this" or "dang, what dedication. great job."

I was going to hang them on the machines but there are a LOT of dedicated people at the gym on Sundays so I chickened out and hung them on the lockers!
notes on the gym lockers
Remember I mentioned I made my notes at football practice? Well, it was there that one of our little cheerleaders was interested in my project and helped me come up with some ideas. I thought it'd be fun to have an act just for her. So I made this little sign and while her and her family was at church, I snuck over and hung it on her garage! 

One of Erin's ideas was to do something nice for an "old person" and I thought it was a great idea. I had a hand-crocheted blanket sitting in my closet waiting to be gifted so I wrapped it up and delivered it to the nursing home. It was fun to hear the gals at the front desk comment on how nice we were and smile big at the idea! 

I tried to think of someone who might feel a little underappreciated and I thought of the hairdressers at the salon inside walmart. They spend their days on their feet, on a Sunday, making women look beautiful. I put some mascara, lip gloss, cheek stain, and candy in a gift bag then wrote them a note thanking them for making people feel beautiful. I dropped them at the counter and ran!


While I was at Walmart, I decided it was a good location for my next ROAK....hand sanitizer. I left little cards with hand sanitizer in a few of the carts.

We ended up at another grocery store so that Stacy could buy flowers (by the way, read about her 12 here) so I decided to perform my other ROAK here. I had made little cards that said "Hope your day doesn't suck" and then stuck a tootsie pop to them. I put them on people's car windows.

It was this ROAK that had me giggling and running. I walked to an empty truck, lifted the wiper blade and then jumped out of my skin when a little dog tried to attack me! It was then that I realized the dog was on someone's lap!!!! I smiled at the gentleman, left my note and sucker, and ran!!!

Hope your day doesn't suck!

Next I headed to my friend Valerie's house. Valerie is someone I really appreciate but rarely see. She was busy painting her son's room so I took my homemade jam, fresh baked biscuits, and left it at her door!


Then I headed to Chip's house. Chip is my boss. But I'm fortunate to work with one of my closest friends. It's been a tough couple of years and Chip's always there for me. He's a great mentor, a solid confidante, and has become like my family. He loves Halloween so I picked out two halloween signs and stuck them in his yard. He'll see them when he returns from his weekend away. 



In addition to the above, Stacy was recipient of one of my ROAKs...I wrote her a card and gave her a necklace I made. Plus I made a care-package for my cousin Heather and her daughter Jaelie. I didn't take photos of either of those.

When Stacy and I headed out in the morning, we were a little nervous. Worried people would find us suspicious haha. But we were both equally excited. As our morning wrapped up, I was in a great mood and didn't want our adventure to end. We joked about starting a kindness revolution and changing the world! It was a great day. Thanks Stacy!


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