RAoK

Thought I'd share a few RAoK with you all.

First of which was way back on my birthday - this was a RAoK I received.
So.. it's my birthday and I expect a lot of attention, at least from those closest to me (boyfriend, mom, dad, etc.).  After work Steve and I went out to dinner - we met at the restaurant, so we had to leave in our own cars.  As I'm driving home I get a phone call, from some unknown number - lame, I usually don't like to answer those phone calls but... since it's my birthday... I obviously do.
It's a man named Ed (last name withheld for privacy) - this man has been a part of my life... for as long as I can remember.  He has been a good friend of my dad's for years, he was in my parents wedding, and my dad has a ton of stories from before that time... so, life long friend.  A great guy, actually.  Since my parents have divorced, my mom keeps in good touch with him and when he is in town - we've been known to go out a time or two and enjoy a cocktail.  You see, Ed travels to ... everywhere ... for his job.  Different countries, states, continents!  So when I get this call I'm thinking Ed is in town... turns out he's not.  I ask where he is calling from and he tells me Bangladesh!!
He went out of his way ... in BANGLADESH to call and wish me a happy birthday!  The conversation was short and when we hung up, I teared up.  It was seriously the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me!  A little gesture, but something that made my day!

The next is just a small little thing but it was one of those things that you just know made a difference.
I'm a huge believer in holding doors for people, it's no trouble for me and it's a pretty easy thing to do to be kind to a stranger.  On Friday I was running some errands and decided to stop at the coffee shop for a latte  - as I was walking out there was a chick coming in - still pretty far away from the door yet, so I stood there and held the door for her.  She gave me one of those genuine "Thank You!"'s - where you could tell she was really thankful and surprised.  I'm pretty sure I made her day a little better and I know I walked away feeling pretty darn good about it!  Win-Win, if you ask me!

What have you done for a stranger today?  What will you do today?  What about tomorrow?
Did anyone do something kind for you over the weekend?!

Good Deeds Are... GOOD!

Obviously, right?!

Do you do any random acts of kindness?  Have you ever been the recipient of one?
I found that its an easy thing to want to do but also easy to lose sight of... What can I do to make a difference?

I didn't really think this was a big deal - but I guess it kind of was, to the people I helped.  I'm not here to toot my own horn, but to share with you how a little thing can go a long way.
Last week-ish, Sara posted about having her mini-van side window shot out with a BB Gun.  Sara is married with 2 children and is dealing with some outrageous bills after having a cat put down (only after trying several things to try and help him) plus some other money issues she is trying to work through - as are most families right now.  Sara also has an etsy shop which she has handmade scrapy type things.  So I wanted to buy something to help her.

Round about that same time, Dana posted about her New Years Resolutions - one of them was to write more hand written letters.  I was completely envious of her goal because this is something I think about doing often myself, but never actually follow through with it.  I was happy she wanted to do it.

Now - I've only met both of these girls in person once - which, in the blogging world, I guess that's kind of cool actually.  Through blogging you can really get to know someone and I guess even if I hadn't met these girls in real life, I'd still feel like they were my friends.

So, I thought this was the perfect storm - how can I help myself and other people at the same time?  I buy note cards from Sara (helping her) for myself to write letters (helping me) and pick up and extra set (helping Sara again) for Dana (helping her) to get started writing letters.  Bomb, huh?  I thought so.

So - Dana then posted her own Random Acts of Kindness blog today - showing off her new note cards and telling some stories about RAoK as well as giving a link to a RAoK website - with... get this ... 210 suggestions of things you can do.  That site can be found here: Random Acts Of Kindness.

Here is a picture of the note cards I bought for myself from Sara:

Here is a picture of the little set I bought for Dana:

It's really cool actually, it's a folder type thing that opens up and has decorated papers on one side and envelopes on the other - easy to carry with you and write a letter anytime!

So.. back to the point - I'm going to try and start performing more RAoK - and I plan to post each time I do so.  I'll also post if I'm on the other side of the RAoK.  Have you given or received a random act of kindness lately?  Will you try and pay it forward?  Maybe you'll start by looking at this website and performing RAoK once a week, once a month, once a day?!

What will you do today to help make someones day a little brighter?