Just a little random act of kindness can go a long way...

I saw something on Pinterest the other day that sparked my interest, but this month I just don't have the bandwidth to create the project and really do it up the way this was done. It was a Random Act of Kindness calendar for the month of December (could be any month I guess though). It was a large piece of felt and each day had a pocket and in the pocket was a little slip of paper with a random act on it that was your task to fulfill for that day. I don't think I could pin point a random act like that, it kind of takes the "random" out of it. The thing about it being a "random" act of kindness is it should really be spur of the moment, fly by the seat of your pants type deal. But I liked the idea. Maybe (if I had unlimited supply of time) I'd make the felt calendar but in each pocket I would write on a slip of paper what my random act was that I accomplished for the day instead of trying to predetermine my random actness!

So today is the first day of December. I really didn't set out to fulfill a random act a day for the month but I stumbled upon one this morning and it made my heart feel light. It made me feel really good. And I'm the goofball who does something unprompted and nice for someone else and then get a little misty eyed and nostril flarey that I just made someone else feel good. I know! Total dork. I can't commit to doing this calendar thing for the month, or writing on a piece of paper or anything like that. Life just doesn't have enough time for me right now and I need to focus on important things and making a calendar isn't one of them, maybe when the kids are off at college.

Mornings I am in full on "go" mode. I've recently tried to lift my head walking in and out of school so I say hi more often to other parents and kids. No need to walk with blinders on, everyone deserves a little hello, it doesn't cost anything and it doesn't take much effort anyway. So this morning I dropped the kids off at school, I got them settled and went about my day walking back to my car. The way the parking lot is set up, you park with your front bumper along the sidewalk that takes you to the school. As I was walking alllllllll the way to the very end of the sidewalk to my very far away car, I noticed a little (3 year old) boy in front of a minivan who was kind of doing that spinning thing you do when you're trying to put your jacket on and can't quite reach the other sleeve. Except in his case, he wasn't spinning around chasing his other sleeve, he was chasing his book bag shoulder strap. The problem is he was never going to get it. He had the left shoulder strap on the right shoulder so it really wasn't going to work for him. The dad was getting the baby out of the minivan so he wasn't around to help. I stopped right next to the little boy and said, "Here, let me help!" As I grabbed his bag he thought it would be as easy as me flipping the other strap over his should so he started to twirl again. I said, "Oh, nope, let's take it off and start over, ok?" So he did. He unraveled himself from the bag and I held the first strap wide open for him to put his arm through, then held the other one. I said, "There ya go", and he replied, "Thank you!" And then my heart melted because he even used his good manners to boot.

All the while I honestly don't think the dad knew at all what transpired which is ok with me. I'm happy just knowing I helped that little boy into his book bag and it's an extra bonus that he said thank you too! Totally made this completely unexpected random act of kindness exponentially worth while. I do think I might say something to his dad though because every parent should hear when their child does something good and using manners at 3 years old, to a total stranger is big and he deserves praise from his parents for it. I know I would want to know if my kids were kind or did something good, especially using manners.

I like this random act of kindness thing. There's always a little something I can do (everyone can do) to make someone's day a little brighter.