Birthday Gifts

In case I haven’t mentioned it, my birthday is tomorrow, people. If you read last week’s post, you’ll note two things regarding my thoughts on birthdays:

1. I love them.
2. On my own birthday, I do what I want–usually for at least a week.

With each increasing year, I’m aware of the preciousness of one more trip around the sun. Each is a gift as we move around on tectonic plates floating on a spinning globe. Nothing, not a damn thing, is certain.

All that said, I found myself this week in kind of a “meh” mood. I was neither excited nor sad about the passing of time. I was in that weird, no-decent-toppings-on-my-plain-oatmeal kind of place.

Yesterday, I willed myself into both productivity and happiness to no avail. My appointment at the bank fell through. A class assignment needed shuffling, causing the rest of my work week to shuffle. I pouted, then took the dog for a walk, and in a symbolic culmination of my craptastic day, I smeared dog poop on my hands as I tried to salvage a wind-blown bag of dog shit.

I threw in the towel and went to buy a frozen pizza. And in this muddy sojourn through the dog poop-encrusted slush, the winds of change blew me a couple of easy buttons.

First, the grocery store clerk did what he ALWAYS does. He smiled, looked me in the eyes, and said that he hoped I had a great day. He did this to the five people who exited in front and behind me. He does this every. Single. Day (except the one day he had bad allergies, because I asked if he was okay when I was caught off guard).

Second, I saw a middle-aged man in a huge truck gingerly load a cinnamon-colored, portly, squirming weiner dog into the backseat. The act was both touching and hilarious, and I sat with my frozen pizza in the car, laughing and crying at the same time. It pulled me out of my funk. Pizza and pajamas helped, too.

The easy buttons reminded me that our kindness matters. It also reminded me yet again that the power often lies in the smallest gestures, often in moments and locations where we’re completely unaware of our impact.

A few birthdays ago, before this project was a little tadpole, I asked my friends to gift me with one such memory—of a particular story where someone influenced them in a small or large way. As we part ways this week, I hope you’ll read their short excerpts below (each one is separated by a small, bolded title above it), and pause, and remember a moment in your own life—perhaps one person’s simple gesture that changed the outcome of your day or even the outcome of your life. If you feel so inclined to distill it the comments below, it would be a gift to read and share it here. Have a wonderful week, my friends—I’m off to blow out way too many candles.

xo,

Cami

Potpourri.

“I cannot for the life of me think of the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me but so, so many kind things over time…my sister coming to visit me in the military, my husband’s cousin buying us plane tickets when our nephew died, my friends teaching me new skills or helping pick cactus out of my hands when I crash, the random cup of coffee someone buys you or a genuine thank you. My husband supporting me in everything I do—I am crazy!”

Finding Your Voice.

“I started taking a group singing class with a gal in town. From the first class, I was hooked—on the way she teaches singing, but especially on being around her! Her basic philosophy is that we can all do—and sing—way more than we think we can. That it is our mind that we have to retrain, and our body will follow. She has this dazzling smile, and amazing voice, and she is so amazingly positive…and yet, you can tell that she has really lived…loved and lost, joy and heartbreak…and she’s still going. Still looking for the light in the darkness, even when the light seems to be just a little pinprick.”

Mom.

“My mother—the most influence on me of anyone in my life. Even though I’ve been away from home for over 15 years, her mannerisms, ideals, heart, compassion, and kindness reverberate through me to all those around me. She taught me how to garden, how to care, show love to everyone—no matter who they are. How to find the best in every situation, how to laugh it off, how to sing—even if out of tune. I am all that I am today because of her.”

Kindness of a stranger.

“While I’ve been fortunate to have had many people in my life who offer me encouragement, inspiration and who continue to do nice things for me, one of the most unexpected events came from an unidentified stranger.

It was Thanksgiving two years ago and my mom and I went out to breakfast. When I went to pay the bill our waitress said it had already been paid. I asked who had paid it and she said a man who just left asked her to add our bill to his. She said she had never seen him before and I hadn’t seen anyone in the restaurant that I knew. Mom and I were both very touched and acknowledged how an unexpected act of kindness does make a difference and reminded us of the power of paying it forward.”

Planting a seed.

“There I was, a too-cool-for-school senior in high school, in my Phys Ed
class.  I grew up playing sports, but drinking and partying got the best of
me in high school so I wasn’t as active as I used to be.  

Sometimes in class we would run around the track, and one day my PE teacher came up to me after our run and suggested that I should try out for the school track team.

I wasn’t very good, just average, but I liked it and found myself running on my own time. I would run after school, on weekends, and it continued after I graduated high school.  It was the gift that keeps on giving.  

I think about her often, even though I can’t remember her name or what she looked like.  I am so grateful she took time to recognize whatever she saw in me and took the effort to plant the seed.  Running has been a mainstay in my life ever since and set the foundation for the other activities that would follow….adventure racing, duathlons, triathlons, mountain biking, just to name a few.  Running made me want to be healthier, fitter, faster.  I don’t know what my life would look like if she hadn’t approached me, if I hadn’t run track, if I hadn’t made it a lifestyle.  But what I do know is that I am so grateful she gave me the nudge, because now I look at my wonderful life with all my active friends and happy times spent on the trails over the years–I can’t imagine life any other way.  She didn’t need to inspire me; she just planted the seed and I did my own watering.  I’m so grateful she planted the seed.”

Cup of joe.

“About a year ago one of my coffee house friends and I were sitting there having a coffee.  He got up to go and I asked him why.  He said since he was out of work he couldn’t afford to pay for another coffee. I bought him a coffee house pre-paid card for a few coffees.

So about 2 weeks ago we were all back at the coffee house. My friend was there and he had gotten a job in the last year.  Another friend was there who didn’t have enough money to buy anything.  My friend immediately bought her a pre-paid card. He came up to me and said that since I had gotten him a card he was paying it forward to her.  I was very touched that he would do that because of what I did.”