practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty

I want them to be more significant things, but I try to be kind everyday. Sometimes, people just won’t let you.

Tonight I was coming back from the gas station and there was an accident at the corner near my house. It involved a car and a bicyclist. The bicycle was on the ground as was the rider. The car was stopped and were two police cars and a firetruck. The right lane was blocked. I was in the left lane and there were cars in the right lane that were stuck behind the car that had evidently hit the cyclist.

So . . . I thought I would do the “kind” thing and not move forward when the light changed so some of the poeple in the right lane could pull out in front of me and get on their way.

THEY REFUSED TO GO IN FRONT OF ME . . . They evidently wanted to sit stuck behind the car so they could continue to keep gawking at the guy on the ground.

Somedays you just can’t be kind . . . just not happening!

I have had this little computer toy sitting around my house for a while. It is for a small child and I was thinking that I was going to take it to Goodwill, but it came to me today that one of my son’s friends has a little girl that it would be perfect for. I drove over to their apartment this afternoon and dropped it off for her (complete with new batteries) I felt good that it was now in the perfect place. I didn’t need another tax deduction; I needed an act of kindness. Little girl is loving her new toy.

This one came to me today at lunch with my kids.

I volunteer for VNSA We work all year towards this huge booksale which has historically earned a ton of money. Several hundred thousand dollars each year. All, of the money is given to charities within our county. There is absolutely no paid staff. We are all volunteers. The only overhead we have us utilities and maintenance on the warehouse.

We have two main charities that we support every single year, but then we give other money to charities that we vote on each year. This past year one of the charities we voted on was MANA House which is a transititonal shelter for homeless veterans. Up until this year, they have only been able to house men. The money that we gave them this past year helped them to make some changes in their facility that will now allow them to house 16 women as well. The first 16 women will move in in the middle of this month.

As a side project, we are preparing gift bags to give to the women that would include all kinds of toiletries that one needs on a daily basis. Basic items that we all take for granted in our lives:

Combs and Brushes

Toothbrushes and toothpaste

Shampoo

Deodorant

Body/hand lotion

Bar soap or shower gel

Disposable razors and shaving gel

Feminine hygiene products

Shower caps

Lip balm

So the woman that is spearheading this effort put ou the word to everyone that if you wanted to donate, that she preferred you send Targe or Walmart gift cards or cash and she would do the shopping. I was planning to send her $100. Then I got a different idea when I was having lunch with my kids. We were talking about the project and then one of them mentioed that they wanted to stop at the 99 cent store . . . OMG!!! I realized that the 99cent store has all of these things, name brands even . . . for 99cents! So I got Colgate toothpaste for 99 cents rather that $3.00 Arid deodorant etc . . .

This is a way better use of the funds donated for this project than going to Target or Walmart. So the kids and I got shaving gel, razors, tootpaste, tooth brushes, maxi pads, deodorant, shower caps, shampoo, body wash, lotion, shower pouffs and soaps, 11 items in all for each of the 16 women. I am thinking then that this should put a good dent in the items tha are needed for the gift bags and maybe she could take some of that Target and Walmart money and buy nice tote bags instead.

I feel super happy about this project. These are veterans for God Sake. No one should be homeless in our country, but especially the fact that veterans are homeless is just an outrage.

My daugher is in Phoenix for the Christmas break. She is presently working on her Masters degree at NAU (Northern Arizona University) in Flagstaff. She opted to stay at her friends house with her friend and her friends Mom during the break, although she did spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us.

She was telling me yesterday how her friend and the Mom are struggling. The Mom has cancer and the related costs of treatment and loss of work have have caused a serious financial hardship on them. Additionally her friend, who is a massage therapist was in any accident that required a major neck surgery and cannot work at this time. They are really struggling and even had their electricity cut off at least once due to lack of funds.

When my daughter went back to her friends house, I send two baskets of Christmas snacks, spaghetti and spaghetti sauce as well as fresh baked bread and $40.00 cash. $40. isn’t very much, but it was I had on me when I put the baskets together. I hope it will help some.

Today I picked out several outfits and two pair of shoes for “W” who is my son’s girlfriend’s other daughter. I got the daughter “H” a bike, helmet and lock. Today I spent equal money on W for new outfits. I got some smokin’ deals so it was really a lot of clothes for my money. I will wrap everything tomorrow and get them on the way over there. I intend to sign my son & his girlfriends names to the gifts. It is better that they look good in the girls eyes than me. I feel much better about their Christmas now.

Today I copied Waterfall Nymph’sact of kindness and also sent Dreamer 5 smoke alarms from AMAZON for her kids at school. It seemed approriate to send something so important to kids whose lives could be saved with such a sensible item in honor of kids whose lives were taken so senselessly

My son’s girlfirend has two children, both girls. She tends not to place the girls first in her life which I have talked to her about on several occasions. She gets all caught up in my son’s world at the expense of her daughters. It makes me angry sometimes, especially at important times like Christmas and Birthdays.

So last night I find out that once again . . . it’s looking a lot like a shitty Christmas. The youngest daughter is getting some Barbie clothes. What she really wants is a bike.

Today, when I was out doing some appraisal inspections, I stopped at Walmart and got a really cute bike, a helmet and a lock. I was thinking that this might not be a “Random Act of Kindness” I was on the fence, but LunaGirl says that it is, so I will let this one be #2. I guess I wasn’t sure becasue I bail their Mom out quite a bit . . . I struggled for a long time when I was raising my kids, but I never let their birthdays or Christmas slide by. I don’t understand that. They are just kids . . . but I did “randomly” stop and get the bike. Of course I was seething about it all last night . . .

It truly was random!!!

I was doing an appraisal in Sedona this afternoon and when I got to the subject house, I was getting my stuff together and this man and woman approached me. They were an older couple “70ish” maybe and they wanted to know how to get back to a certain point. They had been hiking the Jordan Trail and got themselves lost.

I wasn’t familiar with the street they were asking about, but when I got my map out, it was really really far from where they (and I) were right at that minute. Really far!!! They were so off course it was crazy. They had evidently been wandering around lost for quite a while.

I told them that I had to do this appraisal inspection and that it would take me 30 – 45 minutes, but when I was done I would drive them to their car. They waited for me and I drove them to their car when I was finsihed. They were visting from Washington State. They tried to give me money for gas and I told them no thank you and then they tried to get Mr. HC and I to come to dinner with them. So I told them that they had already helped me as I needed to do these 26 random acts of kindness and this was my first one so I thanked them for helping me! The wife said that they would pay it forward. I hope they do!

Ann Curry is calling on people all over the world to do 26 random acts of kindness for each of the people killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School.

I am going to do this too!!! i will record them here, not because I want to be recognized for 26 acts of kindness, but because Iwant to make sure that I do 26 in honor of the 20 sweet babies and 6 brave adults that lost their lives in this senseless act of ugliness.

I have been obsessing over this in my mind, on theverge of making myself sick over what has happened. I want this to help settlemy emotions or my obsessions, whatever it is . . .

(who is my gay “husband” according to Mr. HC) lives in the Coronado District which is one of the historic designated districts in Phoenix, very proximate to downtown Phoenix and very proximate to a lot of the services for homeless adults. As a result, there are a good number of homeless people in and around his neighborhood. Last summer, has found himself being “connected” to a man named Roy. This post isn’t about my act of random kindness, but about Rob’s act of random kindness that has turned into something much more intentional.

Rob saw Roy one day early last summer. He said there was something different about Roy that made him want to pay attention to him. Roy is a very frail person, quiet, soft spoken. He walks with all his earthly belongings in a plastic bag on a stick (seriously . . . like you see in caricature photos of old time hobos) and a back pack. He is scared a lot of the time and yes, he does have a drinking problem. Rob was initially struck by the frailness of Roy. He offered him some water one day and then gave hime some water the next day etc. Phoenix is a hot hot hot and deadly place to be homeless in the summer time. Water IS a kindness. Almost everyday Rob would give him water and sometimes a hard boiled egg or a sandwich as he walked through the neighborhood and past Rob’s house. Sometimes Rob would give him $3 or so, never very much. Rob would offer, Roy never asks. Rob says that Roy is always sincerely grateful and appreciates whatever Rob gives him. Roy never asks for anything, but mostly accepts whatever Rob gives him. One time Rob offered him a pair of shoes and Roy told him the shoes he had were still good, but thank you anyway.

Not too long ago Roy’s pocessions were stolen by another homeless person(s) probably when he was passed out somewhere. It was kind of sad. I suspect being homeless for a long period of time is something that most of us could not easily survive, regardless of the reason we were homeless. We realize that Roy has a drinking problem, but none the less he is a person and he is actually a nice person.

Last weekend Rob and his neighbor Steve had a yard sale. They had a whole bunch of stuff they were selling and Roy happened to shuffle by. This woman was looking at a blanket that Rob was selling and Rob snatched it out of her hands, told her it was not for sale and gave it to Roy as he passed by. It’s starting to get cold at night and Roy would be needing this blanket. Then Steve gave Roy a backpack that was being sold at the yard sale, so now he had a backpack again and Rob gave himn a beanie. So this is the funny part (to me anyway, O.K. except for the part where the woman he snatched the blanket from was still standing there scratching her head wondering what the hell) Roy walks away from the yard sale with a Crate & Barrell blanket, a Sharper Image back pack and an Abercromie & Fitch beanie. He is one styling homeless guy!!!

I love Rob’s tender heart. It is filled with kindness, random and intentional.