Yesterday at lunch, Knitting Daughter (aka Starbucks Barista) was telling us about a lady who comes through the drive-through line for her coffee and frequently pays for the person behind her, too. Now wouldn’t it be fun to drive up to the window and hear, “Yours is free today – the lady ahead of you took care of it.”? Since I frequent Starbucks quite a bit once in awhile, I decided that I’d do that on occasion, too. Not all the time. But maybe once a week. Which got me to thinking about other Random Acts of Kindness that I could be doing during this season of giving. And then I started thinking about how fun it would be if we all did that from now until the end of December! So we going to sponsor “Random Acts of Kindness Month” here at The Loopy Ewe. Each Monday, we’d love to have you leave a comment about a random act of kindness that you did during the past week. Some people like to do this anonymously (like me), but rest assured that the people you are being kind to probably have never heard of this blog, so you’re safe in sharing it with us. Not only will you enter yourself into a weekly drawing here, but you will inspire all of the rest of us with your ideas and kindness. (And really – inspiring others to random acts is, in itself, an act of kindness, right?) Since you’ve had no warning for today’s contest, I think it’d be great if you’d leave a comment about a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) that someone has done for you. That will give all of us some great new ideas. (Or if you do one today, enter it today.)
The prizes? Each week we’ll pull one name from the list (and if you do more than one act, leave more than one comment – you can be entered more than once) and we’re going to send you a fun Loopy Loot package worth at least $75. (Hey all of you book authors that are Loopy customers – and there are a lot of you! – if you’d like to donate an autographed copy of one of your books to put into one of these 6 drawings, we’d love that! Ditto to all of our Loopy indie dyers and Loopy indie artisans. I’m not going to email you and solicit products – we are happy to stuff the packages right from inventory here, too, but if you want to contribute, it could be your RAK for the week!) We will ship all winners at the same time – on January 2nd. That way we can make sure that all 6 packages are of equal value. We’ll do drawings for the next six Monday posts (including today and ending 12/31. We’ll draw on Tuesdays, so that all of the Monday comments will be included.)
I did go through the drive through today and I did pay for the person behind me. I was hoping that someone who really needed a free coffee would pull up behind me. Instead, a guy in a fancy sports car pulled up. What to do? Because of course I was making judgements about him and his fancy car and the fact that he could well afford his own coffee I wondered if he’d appreciate it? Then I stopped myself. I decided he must need a kindness today, so I went ahead and paid for him and then sped off as fast as I could so I would stay anonymous! And, unbelievably, on the back of my Starbucks cup today, I noticed that it says: “Pass the Cheer. A good way to pass the cheer when you’re on the road is to pay the toll for the car behind you. Do this and you might start to look at stoplights as holiday lights instead. Red means to stop and be thankful for a moment. Green means to out and do nice things.” What a coincidence! But you don’t have to spend money to show a RAK. How about letting the person behind you in the grocery line go first? Or go to the manager of the next store you shop at to tell him or her something nice about the person who checked you out. Or …. well, you get the idea. Share your other ideas with us.
Speaking of winning things, I totally forgot to announce the winner of our November Blog Contest last Friday. I think I was too involved with getting my holiday rules down (and you all added some very good ones to the list – thank you.) The winner of the November blog contest is: Genny. Genny has a fun Loopy credit in her account to spend on her next order. Thank you again for all of your great musical suggestions!
Lastly, we have more fun yarn coming from Cherry Tree Hill. We’ll be getting some very special Supersock, at a really good price (a savings which of course we pass right along to you.) More details when they arrive! We also just got a large shipment of Lorna’s Laces today, which we’ll be putting up. And we’re still working on this week’s Sneak Up for you. It’ll be a good one.
Sheri can’twaittohearaboutallofyourwonderfulkindnessesinthecomingmonth!
I’m not sure a RAK from a husband counts, but I’m going to post it here anyway. Last week I was frantically trying to finish a baby present before leaving for an out of town Thanksgiving. Well, husband sat me down and told me to knit. Not only did he do all the packing and carting our puppies off to their “sitters”, a task in and of itself, he cleaned the whole house, did the laundry and mowed the yard because he knows that I really stress about coming home to a messy place. Not only did it put me in a great mood because I managed to finish the present but when we came home it reminded me again of how much my husband loves me and the trouble that he went through to do something exceptionally nice for me. 🙂
Thanks for reminding us all about the joy of RAK’s! In my line of work, I am in and out of doctors’ office buildings and offices almost on a daily basis. The two large buildings I go to both have SLOW elevators, and I always try to make a point to hold the elevator for people if I see them coming, especially those with physical limitations. I know how it is to wait on an elevator, so if I can help others out, I do that! I also try to help people out who don’t know which floor to get off on as I know where most of the doctors in those buildings are located. One day I got on the elevator with a young woman holding a baby and two older children in tow. The older kids were arguing over who got to “push the button”, and I could tell the mom was pretty stressed. I asked the kid who didn’t get to push the button (who was almost in tears) to push a button for me. I got the biggest, brightest smile from that little girl and a smile and thank you from mom as well! It was a small thing, but I was glad to help her out just a little bit.
I have a sweet friend who has been saying she wants to learn to knit socks for about a year….we’ve tried a couple of times but …anyway, she travels and always brings me some sock yarn. The last ball came from Germany. I knit her a pair of socks with it..
We both feel very blessed!
I stopped into a local take-out lunch place today and there were 6 local firefighters in line ahead of me. I had an interesting thought about what I could do to thank them for their service so when it came time to check out, I went ahead of them and told the person at the register that I was buying lunch for them and handed her my credit card. They protested, but in the end, I bought lunch for 6 very happy firefighters! I think I felt better about it than they did!
How interesting! I can’t wait to read what others have done or had done to them.
Just this morning I sent some $$ through paypal to someone who is sending yummy care packages to our troops in Kandahar. She buys the things herself and sends the packages with her money so I thought I would help her out a bit.
Hugs!!!!!
I was paid forward by someone who took me back to my train station when I’d slept through it. He and I had talked on the platform before boarding the train, and he woke me as the train left my station, saying “our station is next”. The scenery didn’t look familiar, so I asked where we were, and he told me what station we’d just left. He was kind enough to take me back to my station.
Some weeks later, I had the opportunity to pay back that kindness, and took a lady back to her train station when she missed it. Had a lovely chat with her on a Friday afternoon.
Today I spoke with my friend who rides the train and then the local bus here at work. He had a lamp for his desk, and when I asked him about it, he said it was a daylight lamp to add a little cheer. I told him he seems quite cheery to me, and he said that was thanks to nice folks like me to chat with. I returned that compliment, as I feel he always cheers me up, too!
Thanks for another thoughtful contest!
Well, the random acts that I’ve done that come to mind are to people who know it came from me.
One of my favorite things to do is when someone I’m friends with or someone I work with is having a rough day, I like to buy them a card to cheer them up. And, sometimes if I can’t slip away and get a regular card, I send an egreeting – just something to put a smile on someone’s face… : )
What a great idea! That should be the learning-testing curve for the next year, not only for Christmas.
Beta-phase 🙂 and we know it works! The creative part is a big challenge, it would be to simple to donate some yarn. Perhaps some voodoo-yarn ( with positive vibrations), which teases out the best from the knitting person?
Sheri I´m in the boat, no in the next boxes!
Why do you dislike to spend a kindness to a young man with a gigantic car? You are a mum and you know that would be heart education :-). And please promise me to not escape the next kindness time, to get the thank you (or not) is important for human relationships.
Hi all it´s also important to be kind to yourself (a worldwide women problem)
Claudia
This isn’t really “random,” but I think it falls under the general category. I do volunteer work for the county’s hospice organization, visiting patients in their homes for several hours in order that the primary caregiver can get away for a while and have time for his or herself. My volunteer days are Saturdays, as my husband is off Sunday and Monday (I also don’t work on Mondays, so that’s our “weekend” together). Last week I received a call from hospice asking if there were any way that I could visit someone on Sunday, as the people who regularly volunteer for Sundays already had assignments.. The caregiver hadn’t been out of the house for a week (taking care of his mother who has ALS and his father, who was injured in a fall), and just wanted to play a little golf. My husband and I didn’t have any plans for the day, so I cheerfully took the assignment. It may have been an act of kindness to give the son some time away and to help this elderly couple with anything they might need, but in all truthfulness, this was one of the most meaningful visits I’ve ever had. The woman’s sweetness and courage while facing such a devastating disease and her husband’s obvious love for her is something I’ll never forget.
I’m a big believer in RAK so I love this! Here are some I practice: paying for tolls, coffee, fast food, dry cleaning, etc for someone else. Putting my cart and another cart in the parking lot cart keeper. Getting a cart for someone. Picking up items that have fallen on the floor in a store. Helping others reach things on high shelves in a store. Letting others in line in front of me (in traffic, a store, the PO, a restaurant, etc). Complimenting strangers. Holding the door. Donating money/time/items to those less fortunate. Giving unexpected gifts to friends. Once my husband and I paid the restaurant bill of a family with exceptionally nice children. Just recently I explained how to do a craft to a woman in the aisles of Michaels, and I helped her select appropriate materials. She was so excited!
At Thanksgiving we saw a cousin we hadn’t seen in years. She gave us a photo taken by her father about 1950 of my husband’s father (long deceased) and mother when they were newlyweds. It was a fun, touching and very unexpected RAK.
This is such a great idea and some of these comments are making me cry!
Last spring I messed up my back pretty badly, and a blogging friend I only know from online sent me a huge get-well-soon package. It was so sweet!
I work for a school district in a moderate to low income area and found out at a “community services” meeting that the Thanksgiving baskets being put together by our community agencies were all short on turkeys – NONE! No turkeys whatsoever. 125 Thanksgiving baskets with no turkeys! So I contacted the Student Council teacher and the National Junior Honor Society teacher at the Middle School where I formerly worked. This middle school’s enrollment is approximately 85% military dependent students, who are amazingly resilient and generous despite their own holiday circumstances (most are missing at least one parent this holiday season), and lo and behold, all 125 turkeys and loads of other necessities and extras were provided by these two groups. In the end, we (me, the teachers, the kids, their principals, the school district, and all the people who benefitted) all felt a sense of satisfaction for making a difference!
Great idea!! I have always believed in doing whatever you can to help someone else. As I get farther along in life, I often have more money than I once did, but even when I did not have much, I always shared whatever I had, money, time etc. The most recent thing that I did was buy a meditation book for a friend who was asking me about meditation resources (I study Buddhism). It was so nice to see the look of surprise when I gave it to her. Most recent received kindness was someone buying a soup for me while I was at the local yarn store and people were ordering takeout. When I went to pay for mine, a friend had already paid for me.
We used to have a babysitter when our kids were small. She was great with them and had very little money. When she had her senior pictures taken we knew she was really strapped for cash. and would have had a hard time paying the bill. We went to the studio and payed it for her. She did guess it was us, and she cried, but it was so much fun just knowing she wouldn’t have to use ALL her money to pay that bill. It truly is so much better to give than receive.
Not just my “random act” but one I was part of….my children’s school adopted a small school in Africa where some ot our teachers had volunteered this summer. Many children walk miles to attend. Our school collected more than 250 bikes to send to Ghana, a parent who owns a shipping company has agreed to ship all the bikes plus a school bus the school refurbished and has donated. Each child at the school in Ghana was “adopted” by one of our kids so the bikes went from a specific child to a specific child. As things got rolling, people began to donate clothes and school supplies and backpacks and dictionaries. It was an amazing thing to be a part of. All from my dear friend ( the one who I said brought me yarn a few posts back) having an idea. It has challenged me to dream big. Who could have ever seen all this from someone saying..”I wish those kids had bikes to ride to school”.
I am having trouble thinking of a RAK that has happened to me recently, I was feeling down earlier this year and decided to try to do one nice thing for someone each day. It was mostly things like holding doors open for people, doing my roommates dishes, or letting someone else have a seat on the train, but I like to think it helped a little.
My dad and I were shopping on black Friday and we let someone go ahead of us in line at one of the crowded stores, she had gotten seperated in line from her adult daughter and they had to drive a couple hours home. It’s just nice to do something like that for someone else, this time of year crowds seem to get extra “pushy”.
I always let the person behind me in the grocery line with just a few items to go a head of me. Usually it’s an employee on a break, so they are always quite happy to take me up on the offer.
I think this is a great idea, and thanks for the reminder to do something nice for no apparent reason!
I actually got a RAK today. I work on a university campus and it was raining really hard, but I needed some breakfast so I walked out of my building downhill to the dining hall for a bagel. As I was heading down these huge marble stairs I slipped and fell 6 huge stairs to the bottom. A student I had passed about 10 seconds earlier came racing down to help me up and he made sure nothing was broken and that I was ok. He was so nice I almost cried right there! I’d love to find him and send him something nice. But I might have to settle for sending someone yarn!
Who knew Starbucks had drivethrus? I must really live in the sticks!
I met a woman at Rhinebeck who is good friends with a co-worker. Now this Rhinebeck woman is a very hard worker and never does anything for herself. Last month she was diagnosed with pneumonia which meant she was down for the count for over a week. She spins, knits and weaves for a living. I said to co-worker – Let’s send her a care package! So we put together all sorts of healthy snacks, teas, some books, some chocolate (everyone needs chocolate), some handmade soap and more and sent it on to her. She said she ought to get sick more often!
Luckily she is much better now.
I ALWAYS offer to help the elderly, in the store getting something from a high shelf, with their bags, whatever I feel is needed. And the best part is that I think I am rubbing off on my children. My sons, 3 & 5, are often caught holding open the door for girls. It makes me feel like I might being doing something right by them. But the best one was last week. My youngest, Isaak age 3, and I were standing in line at W*lgreens waiting our turn. The gentleman behind us was trying to pull some cash from his pocket and out with it came a bunch of change. My son saw this, and started picking them up. I thought he would be tempted to pocket them. But NO. He had a few in his little hand and held them out to the gentleman and says in his tiny little voice “here sir, you dropped these” I almost cried I was so proud! And the man said thank you and gave him a quarter for “helping him”! He was so excited! So he learned to help people and, in turn, got a reward! Maybe I am doing this parenting thing right….
Great idea, Sheri!! It’s so easy to forget, whether we are in the middle of a string of petty annoyances or truly in the depths of despair, how fortunate we really are. We have food to eat and a place to live and yarn to knit, friends and family to love. That’s pretty darn lucky, I’d say.
I had a coworker who would leave me little gifts when I had helped her with something–a scratch off lottery ticket, some chocolate, etc. It was completely unnecessary…I was just doing my job, after all. But it always made my day. I was very sad that she was laid off at the end of last year. This past summer, her daughter was tragically killed in a boating accident in Alaska while working with Americorps. Her daughter was missing for some weeks, and they had to hire divers to find her once the official search was called off, to great personal expense. Fundraisers were held to help the family pay for this, and you can bet that I didn’t hesitate to contribute. Kindness begets kindness.
I showed my elderly neighbor my fingerless mitts this morning. She loved the colors, so as soonas I finish this comment, I am going to knit her a pair. Thanks for the idea during our Holiday Season and for thru the year.
Every Sunday my best friend and I go to a nursing home near our house and provide a church service. Since we go every week, we know the residents pretty well. Yesterday I reached and gently pressed one resident on her shoulder. She was so happy and said that felt “so good” , so I massaged her shoulders for a little while. 🙂 She enjoyed it so much. It was just a small thing, but it made us both happy.
RAK done to me… A woman at Kohl’s offered me her 15% off shopping pass ~ which I used and in turn passed on to someone else.
It is contagious!
The receptionist at my old job wore a beautiful pin..a ballerina..very pretty, not gold or anything, but just beautiful. I admired it and she took it off and gave it to me! I was wearing it the other day at my new job with a shawl I knitted. A co-worker admired my shawl…so I took the pin off and gave her the shawl! She was thrilled!
How funny that you would mention this today. I was at the grocery, putting the stuff in my trunk. Then I went across the way and offered to take a mom’s cart back for her–you know, she had a toddler and an infant after all. I had no more put the 2 carts together and turned around, and there was another person there and offered to take both carts back to the store for us! I said to him. “well there’s just niceness all around today” and he said “that’s how it always should be!” It made me smile all the way home. RAK by me, and to me all at the same time!
Here are a couple of things that happened last weeek, so they do not count for a drawing, but may provide inspiration to someone.
#1Post Office. There is a long line at the counter and a gentleman who needs 2 stamps. He walks over to the machine only to learn that it will not take his $20 bill. He asks me for change. I give him my stamps. Happiness all around.
#2 Elderly Neighbors. A few days ago a dump truck pulled up in front of our neighbors driveway and dumped a load of wood. I immediately dipatched the kids to go stack it. It took the 4 of them less than 1/2 hour to stack a cord of wood. I can only imagine the relief our neighbors felt at not having to do it all themselves.
On Saturday at the baggage claim, a gentleman accidentally picked up my suitcase and took it home with him. I did not realize this, so I stood in line and reported my suitcase missing… I was a bit cranky about it, but thankful that DH, baby and I made it home safe and sound. Once we got home, the phone rang and this man was so apologetic and sorry. He even drove WELL out of his way to drop off our bag before he went back down to the airport to look for his! He could have just dumped it back at the airport and I never would have known. I could not believe how kind he was and how he really tried to make his mistake right. I don’t really see that much these days! 🙂 RAK month is a great idea!! It will push me to get out of myself and focus on the needs of others!
Today I had the chance to do a lovely piece of “business as usual”. I teach at a college and received an email from a less-than-techno-savy father. His daughter is on a semester abroad program in a remote area, no email, etc. He is bravely attempting to register her for the spring semester and couldn’t get the the program to register her for one of my spring courses to work. I was able to assure him that I can sign her into the class, no problem. Done.
I love your Random Acts of Kindness them for December concept! Over the years, I have gone out of my way to help small children or the elderly, with many things, especially looking for things, reaching things, etc. It will be much harder for me to do now, that I am handicapped and basically homebound for awhile, with this fractured back that is not healing problem. (I hope to know more about that after my appt with the neurosurgeon at the Univ of Michigan down in Ann Arbor on Wed this week, finally!)
This summer, someone gave us a Random Act of Kindness when we made our latest trip to Michigan’s upper peninsula where my son goes to college, in late June. As we were crossing the Big Mac (nickname for the Mackinac Bridge, long suspension bridge connecting Michigan’s two peninsulas), the car in front of us paid the bridge toll (for our car, but not our boat that we were pulling). That was totally unexpected, and totally appreciated, for the thoughtfulness. We were stunned, in part because I had the correct change out for our car and our boat. We thought that the bridge toll operator made a mistake in calculating our bridge fee because I had the correct change out (for what it would have been). We talked for miles about who might have done that, and how cool that was!
By the way, I just wanted to mention this too: It’s quite possible that your RAK at Starbucks inspired mr sportscar to do a RAK himself. That’s the beauty of it! A great RAK idea if someone lives in the city, is to feed someone’s parking meter if they need it.
Sheri, you are seriosuly th enicest woman in the world, love the idea. Monday and Wed. my son has preschool so it’s a ritual that after we drop him off my daughter and I go through the drive thru, me for a coffee (peppermint white chocolate mocha, yum) and for her an organic vanilla milk. We only drink soymilk here (because too much regular milk makes my sons eczema flare up) so when we pull up to Starbucks my daughter, Anna, squeals, “Anna’s milk house!” Ok, just like to share that cute story. But this Wednesday I will definitely pay for the person behind me. 😀
I’d be more than happy and excited to donate a skein of my yarn (www.perfectdayyarns.com) if you are interested 😀
Two RAKS for one week, not a shabby start! 😀
Boy, people have done some nice things. I feel really insignificant by comparison.
I suppose I never think of the things I do as being acts of kindness, or perhaps not random. I don’t know.
But this is a really good idea! We should all be more kind to one another this time of year, when it’s so hard to be overbusy and grumpy and underrested!
This is my favorite loopy contest ever! I think one of the easiest RAKs to do is just letting someone ahead in line – of course, they know who did it and it doesn’t cost a dime, but it can be so helpful. A couple months ago I ran out to get ibuprofen for my daughter who was running a fever – just had the one thing and wanted to get home quick. There was only one register open, and the lady ahead had a basket full but let me go first. I really appreciated it. Same thing when the kids have had enough of the store, etc. Sometimes you can tell when someone could really use a little extra kindness. Just today I donated some food to a drive they’re having at my school. I always try to give baby cereal or formula to those things since I know they are needed.
About the guy with the sports car, if he is well enough off to get his own coffee, maybe he’s also well enough off to do some RAKs of his own, and maybe you inspired him!
I treated myself to a day at the movies this Saturday. When I got up to the ticket guy to tear the ticket and go in to the theatre, another family with two kids in tow got there at the same time as me on the other side of the line. The ticket guy reached toward me to tear my ticket, but I told him to go ahead and help the family first. I was by myself, and the few extra seconds didn’t matter to me. What I thought was really great about it was that the ticket guy smiled really big as he tore their tickets and then turned to me to say how nice that was and how glad he was to see someone do something nice and not be in such a rush that they have to be first.
Now to think about what I can do this upcoming week. I love the idea of random acts of kindness.
Well this actually happened this summer, but I went in to a gas station bathroom and noticed that in the handicap bathroom, there was a little table with a cloth on it (underneather was storage for toliet paper, etc). On the table there were some flowers and behind them were some pads, obivously left by the gas station for some poor lady who had forgot one that day to use. Well, I hate pads, so I took a tampon out of my purse and left it there. I don’t know, but I felt like I was helping some random woman….
Oh, and today I was in line for the bathroom, and I let the person behind me go.
Apparently all my acts of kindess have to do with a bathroom(???).
I was a ‘victim'(Ha!) of two RAKs last week. First at my LYS, I was paying with a gift certificate & the total came to .81 cents more than I had and I had no cash or change on me. The shop owner told me to pay next time. That was so nice, I couldn’t believe it.
Then, the day before Thanksgiving, I was at the grocery store for the second time that day b/c I forgot to buy 1 thing(but it was a completely necessary thing so i had to go back) and a woman let me go in front of her in line. It was fantastic.
So this week, I’m all about paying it forward. I’ve got a store credit at Starbucks, perhaps I’ll pay for someone’s coffee tomorrow.
When I worked as a nurse (last time was in 2005) I saw many RAKs, my personal favorite was when a co-worker(in a Nursing Home) seeing that one of the residents didnt have anybody visiting her during the holidays got permission to take the lady who had Alzheimers home with her not only for Thanksgiving but also for Christmas. After I left nursing I went to work for wal-mart and remembering the RAKs from my nursing carreer i started helpin those who needed it whether it was for a simple carryout or if needed a few dollars to help if they fell alittle short. My coworkers at wal-mart got together and donated 250 dollars for me and my family when I was diagnosed with a disabling spinal cord injury. When I attempted to thank them for their generosity they told me there was no need as most of them had seen me give money or carry out items when needed, and this was one way they could repay me for helping out Wal-Mart’s customers
Since my two large maple trees seem to blow all of their leaves into the old lady next doors yard, each year, I rake her yard instead of my own. (I don’t have the stamina to do two yards). I just finished doing it for the last time (#6) yesterday.
I am always so glad when this job is over, as I hate to rake leaves. WE are having the trees removed next year as we are getting too old to be doing this…just like our neighbor!!!
Last December my then 6 year old daughter wore a Christmas sweater to the grocery store. The greeter at the door was also wearing a Christmas sweater. She noticed my daughter and complimented her. The next week my daughter asked to wear her sweater to the store. The greeter was also wearing her sweater. This went on all through December. The greeter learned our names and always made a point to ask about our week. The first week in January the greeter asked me to come to the store office. In the office she had her Christmas sweater in a dry cleaning bag. She wanted to give it to my daughter but first made my daughter promise that when she outgrew her sweater, she would pass it on to another little girl.
It will be awhile before my daughter grows into the sweater but its hanging at the back of her closet. We contacted the main office for the grocery store so that the greeter could be properly recognized for her outstanding customer service. The greeter went on to retire this past spring but my daughter never fails to make mention of her when we shop that store.
The sweater was too small this year so we packaged it up and sent it to a home for orphaned children in the Appalachian region.
I love RAKs. I definitely try to practice this. However, someone did something nice for me that I can’t forget. My husband dropped me off at our LYS for a class…I had had surgery a few days before and couldn’t drive. After the class was over, the store closed, and my husband was running late picking me up. This couple that I had met the week before through the LYS stayed with me outside in the dark until my husband came for me. It was so thoughtful. As for me, when driving, I try to let someone pull in in front of me that is coming out of a gas station, side road, store, etc. I love the “pay for the person behind you” concept and will put it on my list of things to do! Thanks Sheri. Kristi
I love the idea of Random Acts of Kindness.
Each year I’m the treasurer for our work United Way fund drive, it’s kind of small, but I always buy the “silver” change from the events so that teller at the bank doesn’t have to deal with 10 lbs of change.
I got hit by a huge kindness today. We draw names for Christmas presents, I drew my Mother in Law, and was struggling with what to give to her. My Brother in Law found 2 great gifts for her and bought them, so all I have to do is reimburse him for them. It just too sweet, having one less gift to think about.
Well, if the RAKs count for Black Friday, I’ve got one. Mom and I were in line at Kohl’s and the people in front of us had their arms full of gift stuff. In fact the guy kept dropping things and then dropping more when he bent down to pick up the previously dropped item. Mom and I had a buggy thing so I rearranged our gift stuff to make some extra room and offered part of our cart to the people in front of us. They were reluctant at first but then gave into it. Good thing too as we were in line for 50 mintues! They were very grateful indeed! As it turns out, we started talking and we apparently attended the same high school years ago. How cool!
Oh, these heart warming stories are making my tears flow!! Knitters have BIG hearts!
Thank you, Sheri for inspiring us. Last week for Thanksgiving I bought my Physical Therapist and his assistant pies for their dinners. They have helped me so much after my knee replacement. As I walk on the treadmill and am finally free of pain…I have these 2 guys to thank!
Oh and another one… same shopping trip. After waiting in the check out line for forever, we finally reached the register and the woman there was just the most pleasant person I’ve ever had wait on me. It was already 12:30 and she’d been working since 4 am. Hard to believe that anyone working those hours on Black Friday could find a way to still be pleasant and cheerful. I made sure to tell her how pleasant our check out experience was and offered to pass the comment off to her manager. She almost cried and said that no one has ever given her a pat on the back for a job well done.
My foster son is one and is special needs. People are often uncomfortable around him and will avoid making eye contact with us. So it always makes my day when people come up to us when we are out and say something nice. Wether it is complimenting his long eyelashes or admiring his outfit, it always brightens my day.
I always try to keep snacks in my car for the panhandlers at the street light intersections. I don’t usually give them money but I also don’t want them to go hungry. I sometimes have treats for their dogs too.
I do a lot of charity work, but that isn’t the point of this as that is all planned. I would however like to take the opportunity to share a RAK that was done for me. This time last year my family was going through a tough time. My step-father was very very ill. We were hoping he would make it to Christmas, but he wasn’t able to hang on. I spent my 30th birthday with him in the morning and then came back to Charlotte. Days later I was back there as he had taken a turn for the worse. It was a tough time. My loving online friends – very few of whom are knitters – got together and sent a box to me a few days after he passed. I opened a HUGE box FULL of yarn from people all over the WORLD! All sent to one person to collect and send on to me. Now, I love yarn, so it was the perfect gift for me, but more than that it reminded me that while he was gone (and honestly in a better place) and things looked so grim and terrible, that I was just the luckiest girl who had people who still loved her and wanted her to be happy. Which is the point, I think.
This same friend who coordinated all of this now has a terrible cancer horror in her family. In honor of her mother (who has a recurrance of ovarian cancer) who loves angels we are all making and sending and buying angel things to her so that she is reminded that she is loved no matter how hard things get.
I live in a town that has a “downtown” area with parking meters. I try to make sure I have extra change to plop into any expired meters as I walk by. A ticket for an expired meter is $10 dollars if you pay it within 24 hours but jumps to a ridiculous $25 if you pay it after the 24 hour period! Noone deserves that.
I haven’t been RAK’d lately, but I will tell you a story about my helping a homeless man for a few months about 20 years ago.
I was working at FAO Schwartz in Boston when I was in college. I was living at home and used to bring my lunch and eat it in the public garden. One day the only bench was occupied by a homeless man and I sat next to him. I was eating my turkey sandwich while he watched. I was very hungry but I also knew that he was much more hungry. I gave him half of my sandwich, my apple and my cookies ( I had taken a couple of bites from my first half. He was so happy. The next day I made two sandwiches and brought two apples and lot more cookies and bought and extra soda thinking maybe he would be there. He was. I gave him his lunch and we sat and talked a little while we ate. This went on a few times a week for the summer into the fall. It got too cold to eat outside and I don’t know what happened to him. He was a Viet Nam veteran who was very nice. He had fallen on hard times. He didn’t complain about his life to me. He knew that the way I could help him was to feed him and listen to him for a little while a few times a week. I don’t know what happened to him, but I felt good giving him a little nourishment for a few months. Not a whole lot, but a lot for this 20 year old.
I do this frequently when I put fuel in my car. With gas prices the way they are I try to pay for someone who can only afford $5.00 at a time. Gives them the money back to buy food or something else they may nee but not have the money for. Since hubby works for a restaurant we see these kinds of things all the time and we frequently return the favor.
I recently paid for someone’s milk because they were short about 80 cents.