The AMAZING things that people do.

An amazing thing happened today that I wanted to share with you. And publicly thank the person that made it happen.

When I got home, there was a hand-delivered letter in our mailbox, along with a fairly significant amount of money. When I say significant, I mean enough to pay for the ambulance bill.

To say I was shocked is an understatement. At first I couldn't really grasp what was going on. When I read the letter attached, I cried. A lot. Partly because I felt guilty that someone would give me that much cash (there's that personality flaw of mine again!), but mainly because of the overwhelmingly kind act by someone who didn't need to make themselves known, that didn't need acknowledgement.

The letter was anonymous, by someone who has read my blog. I hope they don't mind if I share the final paragraph:

"So please accept this money as my 'random act of kindness' to cover the ambulance bill and know that me and my family are thinking of you all and hope that this gives you more time to think about & do the things that matter the most to you!!"

What a lovely, lovely random act of kindness it was. Generous? Absolutely! It really puts my 'spare change' random acts to shame! A bit naughty? Probably. I don't know who did it, but this close to Christmas that's gotta be a strain on the finances.

But I'm not going to dwell. I'm not going to analyze it to death or attempt to solve the mystery. Those of you that know me will understand how very difficult that is. How difficult it is for me to accept that someone can be that nice to me. How difficult it is for me to accept this kindness, knowing that I can't pay it back.

But I can pay it forward, and I will. I will keep being nice. I will keep doing kind things. I hope that my wonderful benefactor gets a good feeling out of this and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. You have truly made a difference today.

Thank you

The Kindness of Strangers

Life is mostly froth and bubble; Two things stand like stone: - Kindness in another's trouble, Courage in your own.

Adam Lindsay Gordon

I'm a nice person. Well, I like to think so anyway.
I've always tried to live honestly and behave in a nice way. That's not to say that I am completely without sin. God knows I've made some very poor choices in life - but most of them only affect me.

I have gone through life following this code. Most of the time there are positive results: I get many of the things I want or need through hard work and a good reputation, rather than deceit; people tend to like me OK (once they get past my strangeness and patchy conversation skills); and I have a sense of general well-being (or is it moral superiority??)  

There are also times when this approach has made things difficult. I've missed out on things that more unscrupulous people haven't; I've got myself in trouble once or twice where lying would have let me get away with it; and sometimes I've made things harder than they would have been if I'd taken short cuts or taken advantage of others.

I always thought being nice would see me through; that in the end it would 'all work out' because I'd taken the high road. This belief was shaken considerably when Samuel died. These sorts of things aren't supposed to happen to nice people! For a while I thought I'd chuck the niceness out and start looking after number one, but I didn't think Sam would like that either. I'm still a bit pissed off about it, but I feel good when I'm being nice!

Never get tired of doing little things for others. Sometimes, those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.

Unknown

There's one nice thing I love to do, that also benefits me, and that's random acts of kindness. Just little things:giving someone my leftover parking voucher (which usually has lots of time left on it - 'cause I always overestimate the time I'll spend); giving someone the change they need when they're a little short at the checkout line; smiling at someone who looks a little down; giving the postie or the garbage man  an easter egg...
I also like to do it at work: little chocolates of lollies left in people's pigeon hole; a note or card to someone who's a little down; finishing a job that someone started but couldn't finish themselves.

Last year, I even got my kids in on it. We had a 'Random acts of kindness' month, where they did things like help younger kids on the playground, say nice things to people and pay each other compliments. It was lovely to see how excited they got about it. And how good they felt.

Because that's what it all comes down to. It makes me feel good. To know that I've made someone else smile, or feel a little better; that's what it's all about for me. I know I've probably made myself sound like some paragon of kind perfection, but that's truly not why I do it. I love that warm and fuzzy feeling. I'm sure you all know how it feels too. In fact, I've already written about some of the kind things people have done for me. Here and here.

We should all do more of it. What a world it would be!

Need inspiration? Check out the Random Acts of Kindness foundation. I'd love to hear about some of your 'random acts'.

So Nice!

I forgot to mention the nice things that happened to me today.

It's so easy to get caught up in this business of day-to-day life, and well, in grief, that sometimes we forget to notice the nice little things that happen. So I thought I'd write about the lovely things that happened to me (and my boys) today.

I had a busy morning at work today, starting well before 8am and going non-stop for a bit (it was hard-going with the headache I had from my sleepless night and tummy ache!). When things settled a bit, and I was just getting into the tidying up, a mum that's been helping in the library turned up with an extra coffee. It wasn't originally for me, but the person she'd bought it for is away, so she gave it to me. It was just what I needed at the time!

Then, when I finally got a chance to check my pigeon hole, I found this;
along with a little card that had a nice little 'cheer up' message. It came from a lovely new teacher that I have only known since I got back to work (6 weeks + holidays ago), and it was a really touching gesture. She said later that she had noticed that I looked a bit 'down', so she thought she'd give me the 'Sunshine Bear'.

When I got home, my brother-in-law was there. He had bought Ollie a little lego car (To say that Ollie is TOTALLY addicted to lego woudl be somewhat of an understatement), and some hot chips for the boys to eat for afternoon tea.

Then, another friend arrived at the house at the same time as me, with some nice beer that he proceeded to share with me. I don't normally drink during the week, but I didn't mind a beer or two. In fact, it went down quite well.

And, just as I was starting to think 'what the heck am I going to cook/eat for dinner', my mother-in-law called to say she was going to make dinner for us. She brought over some yummy stuff for us, and I didn't have to cook! Now that Sam's gone :( I am the sole cook in our house (Anthony does the odd jaffle or reheated pie, but I cook the meals. I don't mind really, he does a lot of other things - and he cleans up afte me in the kitchen!), and while I enjoy cooking most of the time, there are times when I really don't want to! Today was one of them.

These things probably don't seem like much, but it's these thoughtful; kind gestures that just mean so much. It's not that uncommon around here I guess (we do know some very nice people: my mum and dad dropped a meal off for us last week, and people quite often give me little chockies or pop in to visit), and it's been even more common since we lost Sam, but it's really these little things that make my day sometimes.

I wanted to make a point of mentioning it, because these things get overlooked so often.

So thank you to those lovely people. You made my day. I want you to know that I'm grateful you are in my life.