Random Acts of Kindness

One of my favorite books is "Love is a Verb" by Mary Ellen Edmunds. Every time I read it, I get all pumped up about doing random and not so random acts of kindness/ service, etc. And because I'm looking for ways to help/ serve others, I tend to notice acts of kindness done on my behalf. Sometimes I think we are the recipient far more than we recognize - we're just not paying attention - and that's probably the same reason that we miss out on helping others.

The other day I was lugging Amelia and her car seat into a store. (I say lugging, because as small as she is, she's still getting heavy . . . and I don't usually carry her in the car seat much, but I was in a hurry . . . anyway, I digress.) So I'm in a hurry, and awkwardly trying to open the store door, while carrying Amelia's car seat. A lady coming out of the store said "Oh, let me get the door for you." But by the time she got there, I was already through the door. I told her "Thanks anyway" and hurried into the store. It seemed odd to me that I felt bad that I hadn't let her serve me.

Today when I came out of Costco, it was snowing. And of course, Amelia's hat was in the car - because it hadn't been snowing when we went in. As I'm hurrying through the parking lot, Amelia is laughing at the snowflakes falling around and landing on her. She doesn't even seem to mind the cold wind blowing through her hair. I get to our car, literally throw my purchases into the front seat, and turn around to get Amelia out of the cart. She's just grinning like she's having the best time in the world - who cares that it's snowing on her? While I'm getting Amelia into her car seat, I hear someone ask if they can return my cart for me. I turn around and gratefully accept the offer. To which the man replies, "it looked like your daughter was sure having a good time". Perhaps Amelia's smiling, despite the snow, made this man's day, just as his offer to return the cart made mine.