The Birthday Post.......

As many of you know, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer this year.  The news of your mom having breast cancer, no matter how prepared you think you might be, is shocking.  I went through a lot of different emotions when she told me.  Sadness, pity, fear, anger.  All of them.  Anger being the one standing in the front.  I had already lost my mother in law to cancer, how dare it try to take my mother too.  I was mad at first, but I plowed through with her, keeping track of doc appointments on my calendar and checking in with her often.  Nothing changed, life went on as normal.  When the news came back that the mass they had found was in fact cancerous, she took one day to decide she would have a double mastectomy.  There was no talking her out of it. She didn’t want to have to deal with all of this again.  “It’s just too much time off work” she would say.  In June she had surgery for a double mastectomy.  I have never seen someone doing so well after surgery.  She was up and about the NEXT day, ready to sit through a game of marbles.  I was able to help my mom with things that she did for me as a child without blinking an eye.  I am happy to report she is now cancer free, and has very little chance of it coming back.

Having been through this with her, it made me see how fortunate I am, and how nice it is when people do random things to make you feel nice inside.  While going through this with mom, people I haven’t seen in years texted me to see how she was and to check in on me too.  Some poeple sent cards.  Others just a quick email to say they were thinking of us.  It made us both feel really good. 

I have been thinking about this since July.  But it was while I was searching blogs that I found this http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=1358 and I decided what I would do. 

The blog writer did 38 Random Acts of Kindness for her birthday.  After reading this, I was inspired to do my own Random acts.  What a great idea, random acts of kindness to celebrate YOUR birthday.  I started kinda late, so I didn’t have much time to prep, which means a lot of my RAOK’s were monetary, although it was GREAT it was in the end a little expensive.  And if I do this again, I will plan better so I can do more things for less money.  But I got the result I wanted, lots of happy people and a feeling of utter joy for me.  I ended up with more RAOK’s than I had planned, but hey I was on a roll. 

Here’s a list of what I did.

1.       Donated 8 bags of clothes to charity

2.       Made “blessing Bags” for the homeless.  Filled them as full as the bag would let me

3.       Let a women with 1 item go ahead of me in line (even though I had a cartful and both boys)

4.       Sent cards to friends just to let them know I am thinking of them

5.       Left 5 notes that said have a good day on them on random cars at Target. Joanne’s & Wal-Mart

6.       Bought a $1 donation to feed the hungry charity @ Taco Bell

7.       Donated a food item to the food bank of the Rockies at the dollar store

8.       Bought a heavy winter coat at goodwill that Eric can give someone

9.       Paid for the guy behind me at McDonald’s

10.   Gave money to sprouts for Autism Research

11.   Bought a bottle of lotion and gave it to the women standing behind me at Bath & body works

12.   Bought a Jamba juice for my friend Jamie who has been sick for a few days

13.   Donated $5 to breast cancer research at Ulta

14.   Bought a cookie scoop for my Best Friend Bria that she mentioned she wanted, but would never get around to buying

15.   Bought coffee for the person behind me at Starbucks…..there was no one behind me, so I gave the clerk a $5 and explained what I was doing, and asked her to pay for the next person that came through

16.   Rohan and I paid for 50 kids to ride the $.1 horsey at King soopers

17.   Took cupcakes to our local fire station-these guys were genuinely grateful for the sugary snack (they even gave RO a Jr. Fire chief hat that he wore the rest of the day)

18.   Took cookies to our local police station (of everyone I have done an RAOK for, these guys were the least grateful)

19.   Took flowers to Aragorn’s Teacher Mrs. Douglas

20.   Taped $1.25 to 2 different soda machines

21.   Took homemade brownies to the ER nurses at the children’s hospital at Aurora Adventist church

22.   Took coloring books and crayons to the kids at the ER

23.   Randomly taped $1 bills to toys at the dollar store

24.   Bought brownies for cops that were Chic-fil-a

25.   Bought a candy bar for the cleaning women at Wal-Mart

26.   Picked up trash at the park while Rohan played

27.   Gave $1 to save the music at Hot Topic

28.   Bought little gifts for our neighbors Sammie and William

29.   Went out of my way to recycle some ink cartridges

30.   Made another donation to Breast cancer research, but this time we got a cute lil dog

31.   Got my MIL a bracelet I thought she would like

32.   Gave candy to the crossing guards at Aragorn’s School

33.   Passed out candy to all the mom’s standing waiting for the kids to go into class

34.   Gave note of thanks cards to the milkman & mail man with a little treat

35.   Gave a card of love to my mom

36.   Gave a note and small bottle of lotion for Trista

37.   Gave a card and free Jr Frosty coupon’s for the W kids

38.   This is my one to grown on………It’s a secret to everyone but me and the recipient.  I’m glad I did it, and I hope the person appreciates what I’m trying to do.