The universe is giving it to me hard. After a crystal-clear forecast predicting partly-sunny and 50-degree weather for last Sunday, it turned out that it translated into mostly cloudy with 100% chance of raining on my parade.
But, I persevered and carried out my day of Random Acts of Kindness, also known as #RebasRAOK30th on Twitter.
Ben was quite the trooper all day, driving me around…and around and around. And he participated in almost all of the acts. We weren’t able to complete all 30, though. The rain made it tough, yes; but we also spent too much time returning grocery carts at Kroger. By the time we finished clearing out the last row in the parking lot, all the carts were back out. We had to call it quits at some point, so we moved on…
Ben & I worked really hard all day, giving and caring – we’re not used to all that unselfishness! Here are a few more things we did:
- I found my first RAOK very quickly. As soon as we were seated for breakfast a Harold’s Steer-In. We were seated next to a cop, on break, having breakfast. I told my waitress what I was doing, and she brought the bill to me (anonymously). Easy peasy. Except, the cop was really confused later when she tried to pay…
- The most awkward experience came after I purchased a gas card and attempted to give it to a guy at the gas pump. He looked suspicious, followed by looking like it happened to him all the time. He did gather himself enough to wish me a Happy Christmas.
- The one I thought would be really cool, but ended up getting me the most stares was leaving some quarters at the laundromat. I hated having to laundry at the laundromat, especially on dreary raining days like Sunday was. I knew it would make someone’s day when they found a pile of quarters near the washing machines! I wrote a note, “A random act of kindness…”, and placed the quarters on the note – so the finder would be sure that the owner of the quarters wasn’t coming back. Now, I’m pretty sure no one noticed what I was doing, but every person in there stared at me like they expected me to break out with a flash mob at any moment.
- I made the obligatory donations to Goodwill, and several small donations to charities that I love.
- The most rewarding RAOK was delivering flowers to the nursing home. I bought a bunch of flowers from the grocery store, separated them into a few bouquets & tied them with ribbon. Everyone at the nursing home was happy to see someone with flowers. It probably doesn’t happen as often as it should. I explained to the ladies at the reception desk that I was doing acts of kindness for my birthday, and asked if anyone in particular could use some flowers. There was a lady nearby who I gave flowers right away. I entrusted the rest of the bunches to the staff, who assured me they’d get to some very deserving ladies who were in recovery. It made me want to go back there more often. Weird.
- I thought more people would cry
but the only person I made cry was my mom – I had 30 flowers delivered to her – one for each year she’s made ‘being me’ possible.
RAOKs should happen more often. They were definitely fun, and inspiring, and while it’s not supposed to be a selfish act, I have to admit I did feel really really good after doing them. And tired.
