It has been quite a while, but I'll try not to dwell on my neglect of this blog. Instead I will skip straight to the incident that inspired this post.
While talking to a few third graders I work with, I shared something embarrassing that happened to me. One student told me, "Mrs. W, that was karma. You must have done something bad to have that happen." Now, I really don't think my clumsiness (walking into a post) was karmic retribution, something else happened recently that made me think I might need to restore the balance.
The other day, I was pulling out into traffic and I got stopped by a police officer. I was speeding. (Allegedly 11 miles over the speed limit. I disagree, but that's beside the point.) It was a construction zone. That means whatever my fees would have been for going 10-15 over are now doubled. Now, I am not arguing against the justification of the ticket. The circumstances were just... altogether unfortunate. So, I will pay my fine. (Bye bye, tax return!) But I also feel that I need to pay something else back to get rid of the icky feeling that speeding tickets tend to leave.
Also inspired by this particular classroom, I am vowing to do 100 acts of kindness. BY MYSELF! (Well, I will include my daughter, but an almost-two-year-old can hardly be held responsible for such things.) Since I spend about as much time on Pinterest as I do eating and breathing, I gathered a few pins and plan to compile my own list. As I cross them off, I'll post my progress. (SOMEONE PLEASE HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS! LOL.) In the meantime, check out my "Acts of Kindness" board and feel free to send me your own ideas and inspirations!
I think these will be my first 5, since I can do them this weekend:
1. Leave a dollar bill and bag of popcorn on a Redbox. (This is one of the first ideas I saw. So easy!)
2. Donate towels and blankets to an animal shelter. (It has been FREEZING here in central Texas! Those poor babies must need some warmth.)
3. Leave a dollar bill hidden in the toy section of the dollar store. (I can only imagine the excitement of a little kid who finds it and gets to pick out a toy!)
4. Donate clothes to a women's shelter. (Don't get me wrong, Goodwill is a great organization, but I prefer to donate clothes directly to the people who will be needing them.)
5. Give a gift to a neighbor. (An elderly widow that lives at the end of our street is the ONLY person who has introduced herself to me since we moved here three months ago. I think I will try to cook her a meal or leave her a gift basket of cold weather comfort foods after we go grocery shopping.)
Good to see you all again! Can't wait to share more updates. :)
Do you have any favorite acts of kindness? What have you done to make someone's day?
