Do 43 random acts of kindness in 2008.

Babysitting for a friend who is a bit overwhelmed today. Her youngster is just six, and we’ve had a fine day, running errands, picking up the house, baking cookies, and now watching old Saddle Club videos. She is such a squeezably soft kid!

Blast. M’s mother is critically ill. It just keeps coming. I went by and took M a coke last night, just for an excuse to be at the hospital. Going back in a little while. Blast. It’s pretty bad this time.

Another one related to children: I helped M. with her kids.

Two children were very happy today because of me.

It was an all-day affair, the custody trial for my buddy. I was surprised by how stressful it was to be on the stand after all this time. I could barely crawl in bed last night…much less drive home today.

I’m so glad I did it. Incredibly glad. And, by the way, she won. Amazing when the system works like it should…

The right words for the right person at the right time. It made a difference for both of us.

I have this client that is really in need of the basics of being able to set up housekeeping, so I donated a lot of my own stuff to the cause. I hope none of my other clients need anything soon, because I won’t be able to do much more beyond this latest thing.

Going to testify in a child custody case for a friend of mine. I remember well how stressful this was for me. I’m going to drive her there…

This was frightening. I was walking in the city with an attorney when a motorcyclist blew by at a high rate of speed. A second later came the BAM of him hitting the car in front of him, only a few feet behind us. We were walking to a deposition, but….people weren’t being helpful. I told the attorney to call 911, and ran over to where the guy was lying, under a parked truck. People were trying to get him up, but there was no gasoline on the ground and he appeared very disoriented. I can be pretty authoritarian when I want to. I told him to lie down and told the gathering crowd to encourage him to keep his head low and not to move him. I wouldn’t go on with my attorney till we heard the sirens of the ambulance. I was a little unnerved by how little people seemed to know about what was needed in a situation like that.

Gave a student difficult feedback today—difficult to give and probably difficult to hear, but aimed at helping her avoid problems in the future….