40 Acts of Kindness for the Big 4-0

I'm posting this to ACs blog because she has been such an active participant in helping me accomplish this. Warms my heart.

I decided what I wanted for my fortieth birthday was not to feel sorry for myself: "I'm old." Nope. I want to get better with age and believe the best years are ahead of me. 

I also know I could afford to be kinder to others and I want more than anything to be a good role model for my kids. This doesn't happen for me without conscious effort and intentionality and I'm aware of this about myself.

So what I want more than anything for my birthday is just to be a better person! I am hoping in the process of doing 40 random acts of kindness to represent each of my 40 years of life will help me become more intentional about just being kind and thinking of others on a daily basis. I'm only on kind act # 6 as I type the intro to this post and I can already see how this could be habit forming! It feels so great to see how small kind acts have a huge power to bring happiness to someone else's life, to make their day!

Here are my 40 kind acts:

1. Pay for the person behind me at Starbucks. I wish I'd been quick enough to snap a pic of him waving and smiling when they told him. He had the biggest grin!

2. Gave a blessing bag to this sweet guy. He was so grateful!

3. I offered to do dishes. (Normally Larry does them while I get the girls ready for bed.)

4. Don't underestimate the power of a small act of kindness! AC has been begging me to trade her my pink spray bottle for her green one for months. I finally thought to do it today as a small kind act. You would've thought I gave her a new bike, she was so happy. It's the little things...

5. Passed these on to our favorite "A" named munchkin. 

6.  Took balloons for a sick little boy at the hospital.

7.  Left a dollar and a note on the snack machine at the hospital. 

8. Put this note in Anna Claire's lunchbox.

9. Took the time to talk to the attendant at Sango Market this morning. Normally I'm in much too big of a rush for dialogue.

10. Bought coffee for my 6th grade math teacher friends. So fun.

11. Fed the meter for this car beside me whose time had expired.

12. Remembered to give my Lambs and Ivy guest passes to friends this time. Normally I forget!

13. Left a pack of wipes at diaper changing station.

14. Caught and rewarded a student doing a random act. A little boy who often bothers kids around him and is rarely prepared for class needed a pencil. The boy beside him gave him one without him asking. I went and got a snickers out of my desk drawer and put it  on his desk. People often apologize to me when I tell them I teach middle school, but my 6th graders are so sweet.

15.  Left a positive comment card at the Y after reading many posted on the wall that were complaints or suggestions. 

16. Picked up trash. I did this all week, but just now thinking to take a pic of it.

17. I did not tailgate this morning.

18. Let someone go in front of me turning into Rossview complex.

19. I put these up all over town.

20. Gave candy to a student who showed extreme self-control during an alarm that would not stop going off in class today.

21. Helped a co-worker silence his phone at lunch today. He had given up and buried the phone under pillows.

22. Bought Sonic cherry limeade for my hair stylist. I didn't realize she was on a no sugar diet though. The receptionist at Lyndon's ended up being the happy recipient.

23. Bought coffee for Madeline's teacher who had been so sweet to change her hours to accommodate us needing to drop her off by 6:30. 

24. Brought my Baskin Robbins pralines and cream birthday cake into work to share with my teacher friends. Yum!

25-27. I was merciful to students at school this week (more so than usual). Websters dictionary defines merciful as showing extreme kindness even if not deserves and despite fairness. I believe all teachers  are constantly in a position to show mercy. But with some kids it can be very difficult. I made the extra conscious effort this week to be merciful to three students who push my buttons on a daily basis. This was eye opening. I sought to look for the good in them and found it. It's affected my perception of them, possibly permanently. Wow. I'm counting this as three acts for each of the three kids.

28. Took the time to slow down and talk to others. If you work with me, you've probably ran into me or seen me speed walking around the building trying to get things done and so I can home and love on my babies. This week I was intentional about slowing down and taking the time to stop and talk to others as I go about my daily work. I was surprised to find out that I still got all my work done, I was more focused and spent less time spinning my wheels, and was able to leave at the same time each day I normally do. And I felt calmer because I wasn't hurrying! Wake up call! Slow down.

29. Served breakfast with Manna Cafe. I wasn't prepared for how affected I'd be. I was amazed at how the whole operation ran like a machine. And these folks do this every week. Most of all, I was moved by seeing the kids go through the line. They had a sadness in their eyes that I didn't expect. I had to fight the tears back in my own eyes. It was chilly, but I didn't care. My heart was warmed. And I loved doing it with Anna Claire. I loved that the grown ups all around her were complaining about the cold but she didn't once. She is a sweetie and a trooper!

30. Donated clothes to Goodwill.

31. Bought Shipley's do-nuts for my pop-in-law and hubby.

32. Left this mum on my mom-in-law's doorstep, anonymously. She'll have to read this blog post to find out it was me.

33. Left coupons at the places you can actually use them. That was one of the most fun RAOK, surprisingly.

34. A few weeks ago we were in Old Navy at Opry Mills and I gave a fussy baby Madeline a headband off the rack to entertain her for a few minutes. Well, I found that headband, unpaid for, in her stroller a few days ago. I returned it today. Does that count as a RAOK? It was the right thing to do, for sure.

35. Let AC look at the Halloween aisle at Kroger even though it was the last place I wanted to be in the store.

36. Bought Pop the Reese's pumpkins that had been eluding him. He loved them as predicted.

37. Left dollars on toys for kids to find on the toy aisle at Dollar Tree. Wish we could be a fly on the wall to see their faces!

38. The toy aisle was trashed so we put everything back in its place. 

39-40. Tuesday marks a year since my mom passed away. We took a sunshine bag to my Mom's old roommate at Signature and visited with several of her friends who I knew would want to see Anna Claire and the baby. One lady who just turned 103 and begged, "please bring that baby over hear right now so I can see it!" If I'd have known how happy it was going to make them I would have done it a lot sooner! They were beyond thrilled to see the girls!

What I gained from this is hard to put into words. I am definitely changed by it! Each act required a sacrifice of time or money, but it wasn't hard to part with either. In fact, it felt great. Best week of this crazy emotional roller coaster of a year! I'd recommend it to anyone.