Random Acts of Kindness

Hi Everyone! Well the holiday of love (Valentine’s Day) is over but the love doesn’t have to stop. According to the calendar, Random Acts of Kindness has a week of its own. Today is the official last day but everyday can be a great day to offer kindness to someone.

I’m a huge believer that the smallest act of kindness can make a huge and sometime lasting impression on the recipient. For example, in the last year of my mother’s life, I had taken her out to lunch many times. But this time would be different. She was in a wheel chair and I would lift her into the booth so she could get a break from the chair. An elderly man watched and immediately jumped to his feet and asked if he could help. We graciously thanked him and said we were fine. I was accustomed to helping mom. He didn’t stop there. After we got situated and ordered our food that nice gentleman returned to our table. He told us to enjoy our lunch today and that it was on him. I immediately thanked him and said that wasn’t necessary but he insisted. “It’s all ready taken care of and enjoy whatever you want”.

After we exchanged some nice conversation he said he was off to help his brother who was laid up with a bad back. Mom and I thanked him again for his kindness and I told him he was a wonderful person. I also told him that I was going to pass on the kindness and he said, “that’s the ticket”, smiled and walked away. That man didn’t just buy us lunch that day. He gave a gift that kept on giving because mom told that story over and over to everyone! She couldn’t believe a perfect stranger would pay for our lunch. Not only did it give her happiness to share the story numerous times with her friends and family, but they got a chuckle out of it as well. It made me happy to see mom so happy when she shared it! You see, that act just kept on giving.

(By the way, I passed it on that day by giving the waitress a tip for the whole amount of our meals).

Recently you may have seen in the news about Colin, a little boy who told his mom not to bother with a birthday party for him because he didn’t have any friends and no one would come. He suffers from

a sensory processing disorder and another disorder similar to autism and Asperger syndrome. I taught special needs kids for years and understand the heart ache they suffer from being different. But this act of kindness was amazing. In lieu of a fete , his mother decided to throw Colin a surprise party on Facebook. She created a page for him – “Happy Birthday Colin” – and recruited a few friends to help her start generating messages for her son. She plans to reveal it all to him on his big day, March 9th. Letters and cards have been flying in which he is getting but the FaceBook page is still a surprise until his birthday. Last count he has over a million fans. If you’d like to spread the love just click on the link above. Can’t wait to see his reaction on his birthday. What a little kindness can do, right?

These are just 2 examples of kindness. Go ahead and pass some kindness on! Do a random act. Pay a toll, buy a lunch, carry in the newspaper for a neighbor, let someone go ahead of you in the grocery line, say hello to the elderly.

I’d love for you to tell your story and maybe we’ll share it to keep the love going all year long. Just send us an email: partypatisserie@gmail.com