Let me start off by saying, I am NOT a positive person. Matt always said that and it's true. However, I prefer to think of myself as a realist or a positive pessimist. I don't know, I've always had the mindset that if you expect the worse then you'll be pleasantly surprised when anything better happens. Ever since last August when my life got 'turned around, flipped upside down,' things were really put into perspective for me. It was like every random Facebook post was speaking to me. You know, the ones that say something like "smile because it might make someone's day" or "you never know what the person next to you is going through." I started thinking about that because that was my life. Inside, I was falling apart. I was walking around very precariously with this fragile outer shell but no one knew. One wrong raise of the eyebrow by the cashier at the grocery store and I'd find myself in my car crying my eyes out. You can ask my ex-boss and co-worker all of the crazy things that ran through my mind and how ridiculous they all were. Side note: Thank you, Amy and Holly, for listening to my never ending rambling and worries.
Friendships from years ago to people I'd only just met came out of the woodwork to see me through this hardship. On a whim, I went to an Advocare meeting at a preschool mom's house in July and BAM! Friendships that I NEEDED were dropped into my life. Seriously, these women were put into my life at that precise moment on purpose. My girls from high school were checking in on me, sending short texts saying they were praying for us. I'd read that text and sit there crying for the next few minutes. At an Easter event, one of my co-workers checked AR in for me, her daughter was sure that AR had a golden egg, and if I were a hugger, I would've been hugging them, instead I cried for their generosity and help. And let's not forget the guy at the recycle center who helped me with the giant TV I was recycling and had already dropped on my leg getting it into the car. There's been countless other acts that friends, families, and strangers have done for us and while I can't list all of them out, THANK YOU to everyone.
These small acts of kindness made a HUGE impact on me and somehow, some way, I wanted to pay it forward. Here are a few things that AR and I have done over the months to pay it forward. This is in NO WAY to brag what we've done but to give ideas of how you can pay it forward and please, leave any ideas because I love new, fun, creative ideas.
*We bought items for the Adopt-A-Family we had at work.
*We made cards thanking people for decorating their house for Christmas, picked out our favorite houses in the neighborhood, and left the note with a lottery ticket on their door.
*I had a coupon for a buy one, get one free burrito so I took the "free" burrito to the nice man at the recycle center who helped me with the TV.
*We adopted soldiers! And therefore have raided every Taco Bell we see for sauce packets!
*Any time I see a mom with a kid having a meltdown, if I'm close enough, I tell the mom, "Hang in there, Momma. We've all been there."
No comments :
Post a Comment