Random Acts of Kindness Week

I'm not sure how or why this concept became such a "thing" for me.  Maybe I spent so much time being shy and introverted that I never thought how I treated people mattered.  That what I did really didn't matter to others.  This is, of course, entirely not true.

Maybe it took going above and beyond to do something "nice" just because to make it sink in. What we ALL do matters.  Every day.  How many times has your day been made a little brighter just because some stranger did something "nice".  Think about it.

I get weird comments about this concept.  People say "but I'm ALWAYS kind"!  Did I say they weren't?  That is NOT what this is about.  At all.  Otherwise, people would be "allowed" to be rude, mean, and inconsiderate all the time.  No, this means do something for someone random.  Something unexpected.  JUST BECAUSE.

My mom loved to bake.  It was her thing - and her calling card.  She rarely went anywhere social without taking some sort of baked from scratch goody with her.  Even when she was sick and on chemo, she was baking stuff for people.  During the few weeks she was with us, her friends wanted to have a get together and it made mom so upset that she didn't feel well enough to go without "taking something".  I assured her it was not expected or necessary.

She baked for co-workers.  She baked for the guy who worked on her car.  For her friends.  The mailman.   She was always baking something.  What she didn't didn't cost a lot of money, it was the investment of time and effort.  The unexpected gift.

I have sort of inherited this gene.  I bake for people at work when the mood strikes.  Or for friends just because or more likely for the people who see and love my dog every day at doggy daycare.  The joy it brings is priceless.

There is joy in the simple act of giving with expectation of getting anything in return.