May 24th, 2012
This certainly was not my idea, but I came across a blog last fall and was completely intrigued by the idea of completely acts of kindness on your birthday, equal to your age. I "pinned" the blog and as my May 24th birthday drew near, I began to research other ideas as well. Although I had planned to pursue this quest for months prior to my birthday, the majority of the organization and planning occurred in the week prior to my birthday. I am get one day off per 6 day cycle, and as luck would have it, my day off landed on my actual birth date. There were many things that I got ready prior to May 24th, so that I would be able to complete all I had planned within one day.
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| Eden and Shay delivering clothes to a little girl. |
I made up a recording sheet on the computer and kept track of all of the "acts of kindness" completed and how many people may have been impacted by the one act (last column). It was really important to keep a record or it would be impossible to stay on track and know where I was at in my quest. I did most of the preparation myself and spent the morning doing tasks that were further from home and involved people from my work or friends through work. I picked my kids up at lunch and they joined me for the afternoon. This was really special as they rarely miss school!
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Description
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# of Acts
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1
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✔
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Left a some home baked cookies and a candy for the newspaper deliverers.
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2
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2
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Baked fresh muffins and tea biscuits for my hubby and kids for breakie.
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3
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3
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✔
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Left fresh cookies and a note for the mailman.
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1
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4
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Wrote a love note and left it with a treat for my hubby.
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1
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5
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✔
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Bought the meal (s) for the car behind me in the drive through at McDonald’s when I stopped for coffee.
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1
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6
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✔
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Delivered a plate of home baked cookies to Dr. Lee’s office and took them when I had my eye appointment that morning.
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4
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7
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✔
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Plugged the 25 cent candy machines at the mall for the little ones that came by for a treat.
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4
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8
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✔
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Gave the outdoor maintenance man a bottle of water and cookies for his break.
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1
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9
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✔
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Dropped off a plate of baking at Dr. Dan’s office.
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4+
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10
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✔
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Gave 2 men doing street repairs a bottle of water each.
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2
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11
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✔
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Dropped off a notepad I had decorated off in my friend Barb’s mailbox.
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1
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12
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✔
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Dropped off a magnet set and card for my friend Tami, as she was facing some medical difficulties within her family.
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1
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13
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✔
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Delivered a bag of clothes that don’t fit to the little girl across the street.
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1
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14
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✔
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Dropped off notepads to my friends Robin and Barb. Gave them a hug and “hi” and was on my way.
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2
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15
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✔
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Dropped off a fresh muffin for my friend Connie.
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1
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16
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✔
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Dropped off a muffin and card for my friend Mary. She phones me every year to sing me “happy birthday” and will always leave me a message when I am not home to chat. I can’t believe she never forgets my birthday, even though we seem to go years without actually connecting in person. What a gem!! (This was one of the best moments of my day - I got to surprise her on my birthday!!)
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1
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17
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✔
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Dropped off a notepad for my friend Kirsten. (Another great friend who never misses sending warm wishes for birthdays and other special occasions.)
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1
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18
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✔
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I actually took the car in and got a complete interior and exterior wash/cleaning for my husband. This never happens, so it was fun to surprise him!!
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1
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This is the point that I picked up my kids and they joined me for the remaining acts!
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19
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✔
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Placed 2 kites in trees at the park with a note attached that said: “Finders keepers!”
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2+
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20
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✔
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We randomly dropped several dollars worth of coins at the playground for kids to find while playing.
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10+
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21
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✔
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We filled a wooden “treasure chest” from Dollarama with dollar store toys and sealed candy and then buried it deep in the sandbox at the park. What fun!! (It is gone, I wonder who found it??)
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10+
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22
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✔
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I had bought a few packages of Silly Bandz. My kids helped hand some out to a group of Day Care kids that were at the park.
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10+
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23
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✔
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I mailed a “get well” card to my Uncle Ken.
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1
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24
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✔
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I wrote letters (prior) to my Aunty Dora and my friend Patty and mailed them.
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2
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25
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✔
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Dropped off 2 magnet sets and a notepad to teachers at my kids’ school.
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3
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26
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✔
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Stopped to offer Carol and Kelly bottles of water while they were out for a run.
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1
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27
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✔
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Drove around a park offering bottles of water and cookies. (Offered 7, handed out 5)
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5
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28
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✔
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Paid for the lady’s meal behind us at Tim Horton’s drive through.
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1
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29
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✔
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Delivered a box of fresh donuts to the local fire station.
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12
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30
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✔
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Delivered a box of fresh donuts to the local police station.
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12
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31
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✔
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Let a lady totally cut me off in traffic and just waved at her and smiled :)
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1
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32
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✔
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We taped 5 loonies to 5 different toys in the Dollarama store.
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5
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33
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✔
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Bought Eden and Shay treats at Tim Horton’s.
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2
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34
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✔
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Handed out Silly Bandz at the Children’s Hospital.
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10+
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35
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✔
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Loaded 5 vending machines with the correct change for “treats/coffee/newspaper
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36
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✔
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Dropped off fresh baking for the nurses on the Cancer ward at the Children’s Hospital.
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5+
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37
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✔
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Dropped off a bag of activities for families to do while waiting in the lounge at Children’s Hospital.
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4+
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38
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✔
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Dropped off 5 gift bags (full of books, puzzles, games, etc) for patients at the Children’s Hospital.
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5
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39
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✔
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Put packages of gum with a note reading “Mint to brighten your day!” on the windshields of 4 cars in the hospital parking lot.
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4
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40
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✔
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Handed out 2 pre-made snack bags and water bottle to 2 homeless people plus extra water for the dog!
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2
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41
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✔
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Dropped off two boxes of granola bars at Springs Inner City (food drive).
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16
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42
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✔
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Gave our waitress at dinner a 20% tip.
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1
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43
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✔
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Gave the clerk that helped me at Garage clothing a Toblerone bar to enjoy at the end of her long day.
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10+
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44
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✔
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Wrote thank you notes for my kids and left them on their pillows to find at bed time - thanking them for all of their help in fulfilling my birthday wish!
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2
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In order to be able get everything done, there were many things I did ahead of time to prepare. Here is a list of some of the preparations I did in the days leading up to my actual birthday:
-baked 6 dozen cookies (peanut free)
-wrote all of the letters to be mailed and put the stamps on them
-bought all of the items for the gift bags
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| I labelled the bags for the hospital so that the nurses would know if the gifts were appropriate for a boy or a girl and what age. |
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| These were the items in the bag for families waiting in the lounge. |
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| These were the snack bags for the homeless (a tuna snack can, granola bars, juice box, crackers, cookies and/or a fruit) |
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| Packages of gum with notes for the hospital parking lot. |
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| I wrapped many of the baking treats like this and then added a little note. |
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| Above and below: These are all dollar store notepads. I used my scrapbooking supplies to decorate/re-vamp the front covers to make them suitable little gifts. Inexpensive, but cute! |
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| These were the 2 kites we left in the park. |
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| This was the treasure chest we buried in the sandbox. |
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| I glued scrapbooking paper to the bottom of glass beads and added magnets to them. I then made these cute little boxes for the magnet sets, added a verse (and/or a note) and passed them out as little gifts meant to brighten people's day! |
-wrote out all of the little notes that would be attached to the little gifts
-wrapped the necessary gifts
-got out ribbon and cellophane ready to wrap the fresh muffins and cookies
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| Treats for the newspaper deliverers. |
-made sure I had cash and change on hand for the vending machines
-I always have a tub of clothing that is too small, so that was easy to bag up ahead of time
-made the home made notepads and magnet sets the weekend before
-I pre-planned my route, approximate timing and people that I wanted to bless along the way
-I had lots of items prepared to randomly bless strangers we encountered
-I purchased a case of water and ice (just put the water in a cooler early that morning to chill)
In order to pull this all off, I was up at 5:30 am baking fresh muffins and biscuits, loading the car and getting organized for my day. I literally finished my last act around 9 pm, totally exhausted, but thrilled with the success of the day. You can see that many of the acts only counted as one on my list of 44, but may have impacted as many as 10 people.
There were several really memorable moments from the day…..surprising Mary with the muffin and note BEFORE she had a chance to phone and sing me "Happy Birthday!", the city worker in the park that was sweating as he worked and got choked-up with our small offer of cookies and water, and my 8 year old son's revelation that "it really does feel good to do nice things for others!" (he said he thought grown-ups were trying to trick him when they said that - he finally REALLY got the message from the "Bucket Book" - yay!!). It was amazing to watch my kids as they became totally absorbed in how they could make others feel goo by simple, small random acts of kindness. Towards the end of the day, I observed how the behaviour became so much more considerate - emphasis on good manners, opening/holding the door for others, more observant and in tune with those in need. Made me just want to freeze that moment in time, when there is not even a moment to think of yourself, because you are totally consumed with the welfare and happiness of others! Such an incredible experience, on so many levels.
I basically accomplished my quest, but blew my $44 budget. I think that you could easily do it for that amount, but I got carried away with the gifts, etc. If you were to count every single act of kindness, it would be easy to stay within a tight budget. For example, instead of 4 packs of gum, do one.
Happy birthday to me!! By far the most memorable in my 44 years!
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