Our Day of Kindness, April 1, 2013

I feel like I live a very charmed life. I have an amazingly supportive partner and two wonderful little boys. I have the best job in the world being able to be home with Benjamin and Drew, and even though our days may be chaotic at times, there isn't anything I'd rather be doing. So when my birthday approached this year, I felt like I wanted to find some way to share that happiness with others. A few months ago, I found the blog post of a woman who dubbed her birthday as a "Day of Kindness." She and her kids spent the whole day going around doing really nice things for people, and as soon as I read that I knew I wanted to do that exact thing for my birthday. I had to modify it a bit since my kiddos are younger than hers, but we kept a lot of the ideas the same. In the weeks leading up to our own "Day of Kindness," Benjamin and I brainstormed ideas that we wanted to do and prepared the things we needed to have done in advance (making cards, putting dollar bills in bags, creating diaper bags, etc.). Aimee surprised me by taking the day off, so she was able to go around with us, too! I know we wouldn't have been able to get it all done if she hadn't been with us, as she kept Drew entertained the whole time. If anyone is looking for an amazing way to spend your birthday, I highly recommend this. It was such an incredible experience for all of us!

Stuffing dollar bills into bags to hide around the Dollar Tree

Flowers for patients at the hospital

Our first stop was at our local fire station. We baked a variety of muffins that morning and bagged them up with a card that Benjamin created for them. When we dropped them off, the firefighters talked with Benjamin and I for a few minutes and and asked Benjamin if he would like to sit in the fire truck. He got to man the driver's seat!

Our next stop was the hospital. We put together six vases of flowers to drop off with the volunteer desk so that they could hand them out to patients that might need a little cheering up. We also had 8 "get well soon" cards that Benjamin had painted to be handed out, as well. After dropping the flowers and cards off, we walked around finding vending machines so that we could leave bags with enough change for a drink on each of them. Then we left a bag with diapers and wipes on top of a diaper changing station. Benjamin also had picked out one of his coloring books that he hadn't colored in yet and a box of crayons that he left on the kids' table in the surgery waiting room.

Drew was such a good sport being in his stroller for so much of the morning. He was happy the whole time! I'm looking forward to doing this again in the coming years so that he can really participate with us.

Taking a break to look out the window of a waiting room in the hospital...

When we got back down to the main level, the director of volunteer services was waiting for us. She wanted to take a picture of Benjamin with the flowers for their hospital newsletter and was going to write a little article about what he had done. He was so proud!

And he left with a couple toy ambulances "to remember the day by."

After we left the hospital, we headed to our local food pantry to donate some food and paper products. Once we went in and weighed the donation on the big scale, the coordinator asked if we would like a tour, so she took us around and answered any questions we had. They really have a fantastic facility set up!

I think the Dollar Tree might have been Benjamin's favorite stop. We went in with a set of bags to hide throughout the store. Benjamin picked several spots to hide them. He put some in the toy section, one in the medicine section, one in the flowers, and a couple in the freezers.  

Then it was off to the police station. We had a batch of muffins and a card for our local police officers, too.

Our last stop was at a local retirement home. We had 8 cards that Benjamin had painted and filled out for some of the residents there, so we dropped them off and sat for a bit in the rockers out front. It was fun to talk over the day and imagine the faces of people as they found the random acts of kindness. I love the conversations that we have had about our experiences since that day. A week or so ago Benjamin asked if we could do this every year for my birthday. I told him I can't imagine it any other way. :)