Beyond The Smiling Heart: 2011

Yesterday was a wonderful day! A very busy day, filled with smiles, excitement, sweetness, and surprise. At the end of the day…I was completely exhausted…but SO happy! Trying to recognize and record my random acts was a challenge and I found that I made most of the acts quite obvious. Simple things like smiling at strangers, letting people merge in traffic, taking my cart back to the store….didn’t make my list this year. Not that they aren’t wonderful acts of kindness, but they are a part of my every day. In celebration of ME, I wanted to treat people, to make them smile, and to see how easy it is to make a simple difference in someone’s day.

Here is my list:

1. I started off by listing one shirt on The Smiling Heart for FREE. I gave the recipient the choice of size and color. I posted the listing right after midnight and was surprised that it was not found until after 6:30am. I will be making a blue Africa Love shirt for a wonderful little boy!

2. I sent one of those huge containers of Red Vines (my favorite as a kid) to school with Nathan so he could give them to all of his students.

3. I sent fresh baked cookies to school with Nathan to hand out to the coaches and security guards.

4. I left a ‘thank you’ and a treat for the mail carrier.

5. Tae and I went to Dutch Bro’s (so yummy) and I bought coffee for the person behind me at the drive thru.

6. I brought my sister one of those yummy Dutch Bro coffees.

7. I chaperoned Taegan’s field trip to the children’s theater.

8. I brought fresh baked cookies (50 cookies) for Taegan's entire class to enjoy after our picnic lunch.

9. I hand wrote cards to a few special people.

10. After school, Taegan and I left bubbles at the park for kids to find and play with.

11. Tae and I went to the Children’s Hospital and donated coloring books, crayons, drawing pads, markers, and playing cards.

12. At the hospital we walked over to the oncology waiting room and taped quarters to the snack machine.

13. We stopped at our favorite donut shop (much better than DD) and bought a dozen. Then we headed to our neighborhood Fire Department to drop them off. Much to our surprise we ended up with a tour of the fire house, the trucks, a little Q & A for Miss T, and wonderful conversation. This was Tae’s favorite stop!

14. We went to the library and hid a dollar in a Little House on The Prairie book.

15. We hid another dollar in a Magic Tree House book.

16. We went to the dollar store and bought smiley face balloons. We then walked over to Wal-M@rt and handed them out to random children.

17. Balloon for little girl

18. Balloon for little boy (I had to count each balloon because they each provided their own special moment)

19. I bought a gift card and had the cashier use it on the next person in line.

20. We went to the post office and left stamps for anyone who might need them.

21. We left quarters on a soda machine.

22. I made a keepsake for a new grandma, wrote a card, and mailed it off.

23. I made a small package for a special little girl for no reason except that I think she is lovely.

24. After dinner I wrote this sign and taped it to the mirror in the bathroom. I hope it made someone smile. Thanks for the perfect words sister!

25. I bought a dessert (giant salted chocolate chip cookie) and had the waitress give it to a random table.

26. I left quarters at a water refill station.

27. I left money for a free scoop of ice cream at B.R.

28. Tae and I left quarters for a load of laundry at the laundry mat.

29. We left bus fare at the bus stop by our house.

30. We went to a grocery store and filled all the toy machines with quarters for random kids to find.

31. I left a note on a random car hoping they had a wonderful day.

32. We left bubbles on the neighbors door step for their kids to find in the morning.

Many of our acts were left for people to find later, but just the thought of their surprise made me smile. There were so many highlights to my day. Listening to Taegan tell me the acts of kindness she would like to do on her birthday was enough to melt my heart. Her idea to collect stuffed animals and mail them to orphanages, so when children were feeling sad or lonely they would have someone to snuggle, made me proud and teary. I will have to figure out how to make that happen. Nathan sent me a video of one of his students singing me happy birthday, absolutely amazing! Tears again! The ‘Happy Birthdays’ from all corners of my life made me feel loved ALL day. Yet, thinking of ways to add a little happiness to someone else’s day really made my birthday special. Running around like a mad woman trying to complete 32 acts in less than 12 hours was a new level of crazy for me, but it opened my eyes to the simple things I can add to our everyday routine to bring a little cheer to others.

I highly recommend Random Acts of You on your next birthday. You probably noticed that several of our acts involved money, yet I didn’t really spend much out of my pocket. I started by raiding the change jar for quarters (because they just sit there) and found that there was more than enough for our acts. While I completely believe that the greatest gift you can give someone is your time, there is only so much time in one day. So, the practicality of completing 32 time giving acts was just not possible. Our acts were small, but heartfelt and while we came across many people who just didn’t understand, the people who did were enough to make me want to do it again!

If you participated…THANK YOU….I would love to hear about your day too. The stories I have heard so far are like little gifts for me!

I wish I had more pictures! I also found a link to this which I LOVE.

Tomorrow is my birthday…and this is what I have planned…32 for 32.
I am one that often dodges the question…what would you like for your birthday. Hmmm…Nothing. I am not fancy. I don’t really splurge. I often have grand ideas and happily trade them for practical alternatives…they just feel better. I found this post on pintrest (which is amazing btw). It called to me. I thought it was a fantastic idea and decided on a whim to try and do the same…32 Random Acts of Sarah for my 32nd birthday. 32 ways to say thank you for 32 wonderful years…this is a gift I am excited about…the gift of giving. Tae and I have been preparing all afternoon…cookies baking as I type :)

Feel free to join me. I will post the kindness I was able to spread at the end of the day tomorrow. I’d love to hear your acts no matter how small. Maybe you smiled at the grumpy person, held the door open for the next person, or treated a stranger to coffee. It’s fun…give it a try!