Small Kindnesses on the Road

"I'm convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.  For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they're stones that don't matter.  As long as you're breathing, it's never too late to do some good."
~ Maya Angelou

I am not one to count acts of kindnesses.  I mostly just like to enjoy them.  But on a recent morning, I experienced at least two by 11 am.  How great is that?!  Both were driving-related.  The first was in a parking garage.  There was an unusually long line to exit and I imagined that the ticket machine was broken as it has been in the past.  When I reached the exit, there was a building employee standing by the machine.  I asked her if it was broken.  Not now, she said, but a ticket had gotten stuck earlier.  I gave her my ticket, which she inserted in the machine, and when the machine indicated the amount to pay, I gave her my credit card.  "No, it's okay," she said, "You had to wait."  Alrighty then.  It wasn't about the money -- it was just a nice thing to experience.  A few minutes later, the lane in which I was driving was closed off.  I paused, waiting to see if someone would let me into the adjacent lane.  Sure enough, a car slowed down and a driver signaled for me to pull in front of it.  Small kindnesses, but they do boost the spirit.  Because, after all, kindnesses are a way of people telling each other that they matter.

The Kindness of Being a Giver

"If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that -- warm things, kind things, sweet things -- help and comfort and laughter -- and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all."
~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

Sometimes, particularly when we feel overwhelmed, it may seem that we have nothing to give.  But if we can just step out of our own "stuff" for even a moment and reach out to someone else, whatever we can give -- a smile, laughter... -- will certainly lift our own spirits.

Kindness and the Gift of a Battered Bear

"Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones.  A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you."
~ Shannon L. Adler

As we continue decluttering, I have been going through toys and stuffed animals, and asking my children to select a few they would like to keep.  One of my son's choices surprised me.  He chose a battered polar bear that he received from a maintenance man in our community.  Years ago, someone was throwing it away and the maintenance man gave it to our son.  After we gave it a good washing, the bear became one of my son's favorites.  At our recent stuffed animal review, my son opted to keep it and he still remembers who gave it to him.  We told the maintenance man about my son's keeping the long-ago gift.  Surprised, he said, "He was so small... You never know what they'll remember."  Thank goodness, one of the things children remember is kindness.

The Kindness of a Smile

"A warm smile is the universal language of kindness."
~ William Arthur Ward

After an unpleasant traffic encounter with a very angry man early this morning, I decided that I would smile at the next person I saw in the hope of getting the day back on a more positive track.  As I made a turn into a gas station, I exchanged smiles with a woman on the street.  I immediately felt better.

The Kindness in a Christmas Wreath

"The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness.  It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than in things."
~ Thomas S. Monson

There are many things that my husband does that are kind -- he is, quite simply, an incredibly kind-hearted person.  But there are certain things that he does that stand out and that warm my heart whenever I think about them.  Recently, it was his surprising us with a huge Christmas wreath on our front door.  Well, the wreath is not exactly on our front door.  It is too big to fit on one of our doors.  He hung it above our double doors and we have to duck a bit every time we enter our house.  But as one of my friends said when she saw it, "it is spectacular."  And that it is.  It is made with real greens and has beautiful blue Christmas balls and starfish on it.  The other day, my mother decided she had to photograph it because it was so beautiful.

But beyond its beauty, the wreath is very meaningful because we had not been living in our home for the last several months due to a repair project that stretched out seemingly endlessly and we were all concerned about whether we would be in our own home for Christmas.  Just a few days before Christmas, we moved back in and when we arrived, we found the huge wreath outside and our Christmas tree inside.  Home at last with a Christmas tree and our incredibly spectacular Christmas wreath.

The Kindness in a Home Remedy

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
~ John Wooden

The other day I got into an elevator.  There was a woman already on it and she asked me what floor I was going to and graciously pressed the button for me.  The floor number was all the information I gave her.  But she immediately figured out that I did not feel well.  She shared a home remedy -- boiling ginger, adding lemon and drinking the mixture with honey.  I thanked her as I walked out on my floor, amazed that someone had been paying such attention to a stranger.

The Kindness of a New Year's Text

"One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood."
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Among the texts that arrived with Happy New Year's wishes was one from a friend whom I haven't seen in a while.  I especially appreciated it because she had texted me a couple of weeks back and I had not responded -- not for any good reason.  I was just in the middle of holiday overwhelm.  My friend didn't take offense and instead just restated that we should get together.  It reminded me of another friend who at one point thanked me for being her friend even when she didn't make as much of an effort as she would have liked. 

 

That is one of the many wonderful things about friendship -- at times, it may seem that our efforts at connection ebb and flow, but hopefully, our friends understand that it's about life circumstances, not the friendship.