27 Acts of Kindness

Yay I'm finally writing what you've all been waiting for since Monday ended! I spend my 27th birthday doing 27 random acts of kindness - 28 actually....one to grow on. It was truly an amazing experience and my best birthday to date. I'll be doing this for my birthday every year from now on I think. The list I wrote out to plan our acts for the day had some changes, but I did replace them with other acts as we went. It's best to go with the flow in these situations. This is going to be a long post, so - here we go!

Act 1 of 28

At about 8 o'clock in the morning I dropped this little note, some bath fizzies (that smelled deliciously of roses), and some homemade cookies on the porch of one of my best friends, Lauren. Lauren and her husband Daniel had two incredibly beautiful little girls at the beginning of December and have been thrown head first into the deep waters of parenthood. They're doing wonderfully, I must say but I have learned how entirely exhausting and all-consuming being a new parent is, and I have the deepest well of respect inside of me for how great they're doing starting off with two instead of one like most of us. It's hard to struggle through feedings with newborns every couple hours - it's even harder when you have two mouths needing to be fed and have to work to keep two little ones happy and sleeping when they should. I love this girl and wanted her to know it first thing in the morning - and that no matter what, she'll make it through this and the girls will be just fine.

Act 2 of 28

Next I dropped off a little note and present for my cousin Miranda. She, my sister Brittany, and myself have all been working together to lose weight and get fit for a few months and it's been wonderful to have that support between us - plus I'm so very grateful that Miranda and I have been getting close again since when we were kids and teenagers she was my absolute best friend. I thought Miranda deserved a note telling her how inspiring she is and how great I think she's doing both in our effort to be healthy as well as a person and mom to two little ones. I made her Almond Flour Brownies so that she could enjoy a sweet and tasty reward without having to sacrifice her efforts to eat wisely from the day.

Act 3 of 28

There were several of these little thank you cards that I wrote to give to cashiers I interacted with throughout the day (a couple of them also came with scratch-off lottery tickets) so I just took a photo of one to represent the act as a whole. Having been a cashier and worked in retail for about 8 years, I know all too well how thankless a job it can be. I was happy to take the time to let my cashiers know how wonderful it is as a shopper to have someone help you with a kind and gracious mood.

Act 4 of 28

After stopping at the grocery store, I went to pickup my sister for the rest of the day and we headed to Starbucks to grab some coffee. After paying for our drinks, I handed the cashier a $10 bill and asked her to please use it to pay for the next few people's drinks in line, explaining what I was doing for my birthday. She smiled, said, "Really?" and then proceeded to use the cash (explaining to each customer what had happened) to pay for 3 more customers' drinks. The first man after us was incredibly sweet, said thank you several times, and wished me Happy Birthday after mentioning his birthday is on the 23rd of this month (I told him that my son's is on the 22nd!). The other two ladies were also equally kind and grateful. It was a lovely start to the morning for all of us I think.

Act 5 of 28

Heading across town to do some other acts, we stopped at the first of two fire stations in town to leave some cookies (the second station got donuts) and a thank you note to the boys at the fire station for all the work and sacrifices they put into keeping us safe every day. My father was a fireman and later a District Fire Chief for Gainesville Fire Rescue for a total of 25 years. He was a member of the Fire Marshal and later went onto be the Assistant Superintendent of the Florida State Fire College for about 10 years. Along with him, my uncle James Lovvorn has been a GFR firefighter and is now the District Fire Chief for several years now (my Dad had the honor of swearing him in) and I have several other family members who are firefighters as well. So I know what does into this job, and I appreciate it more than most. Even though my sisters and I are not in the department, we hold that shield in pretty high esteem. 

Act 6 of 28, part A

We then went to the first of three stops for my 6th act of kindness. We took cookies and a note to all the teachers of our elementary school to thank them for helping us as students to become better people. I also left two longer notes for former teachers of mine, Mrs. Baker & Mrs. Williams, to tell them how much of an impact they made on me and how grateful I was for their wonderful kindness and passion for education. I had written a third note for a teacher I had in 2nd and 5th grade names Ms. Janice Sexton, however I have been unable to locate her so the letter still sits in my glove box waiting to be sent or taken to her when I finally am able to find her. 

Part B took us to Fort Clarke Middle School where we again left cookies and a note for all the teachers (a special thanks to Mr. Young who is one of the reasons I chose to be a teacher). We were lucky to get visitor passes as well and we walked over to see my former band instructor, Mr. Everett McConn who was (and still is) an incredible man. We talked for a minute or two and then he sweetly had his drumline students help him serenade me with the Happy Birthday song - which he sang beautifully. Mr. McConn not only was my band instructor but he was a kind of moral teacher for myself and many of the other students in band. He was passionate about music, and passed that on to us. He helped us to become better people in a way that I could never shorten into some quick summary. I also want to take a second to further explain how great Mr. Young was. I never had the luck to actually have him as an academic teacher, but I was in his homeroom in 8th grade and was his aide for the year as well. He was (is) a great man who was always one of the first to jump up and do silly activities with the students, crack a joke, or just be incredibly kind and caring. He called out rude and bullying behavior and empowered those who needed support and love. He was everything a teacher should be. They both were and are still today.

Part C of Act 6 was again to take cookies and a thank you note to my high school, Buchholz. It was wonderful and strange to be there even for a few minutes, and although we weren't able to go see any teachers, I was thrilled to see Mr. Mac still there waving and passing joy on to whoever he could. He was a kind of mascot for us when we were students (my husband's class of 2004 actually had his picture on their senior t-shirts and they incorporated his name in to the class slogan!) and we all love him so. I'm was so happy to get to see his smiling face again. 

Act 7 of 28

Leaving my high school, we gave out some cookies and a thank you note to the police officers who man the entrance booth to Buchholz and keep the campus safe. With the events of the last couple years fresh in my mind as I look forward to my own future as a teacher, I am increasingly grateful for the men and women in Blue who take an oath to keep those in school (and everywhere) safe. My husband and I have a wonderfully close friend who is a member of the NYPD and there has not been a day that has passed since he got sworn in last year that I don't say a prayer for his safety and of gratitude for him and those with him on the force that work to keep us safe every day. 

Act 8 of 28

After leaving school, we took the oh-so-short drive of about a mile to our old neighborhood to leave a note of love and gift of homemade chocolate covered pretzels for our former neighbors and surrogate parents, the Pittmans.Up until 2010, when my parents lost their house due to the Bermuda Triangle of circumstances pushing them into bankruptcy, my parents had lived in my childhood home and next door to the Pittman family since I was 6 (to do the math for you, we moved in to the house in 1993 and it was 17 years). Their three sons were like brothers to me and my sisters, and we loved them all every bit as much as anyone of our blood relatives. Almost any Saturday during football season was spent together watching games and cooking food together. We played and spent our days both in and out of school with the boys. Each Christmas we went over and spent a Saturday making chocolate covered pretzels. It was one of the best streets you could ever dream of growing up on - truly, I had an amazing childhood. These days our families don't converse often or see each other much since my parents live out in Archer, but regardless they are and will always be a part of our family.

Acts 9 and 10 of 28

Acts 9 and 10 go hand in hand, Brittany took me to my favorite restaurant in Gainesville for lunch where I had a delicious meal with her and my friend Mallory. As we got out of our car a homeless man had walked past and asked if I had a couple dollars for some food, I told him that instead I'd buy him lunch so when we placed our orders I placed an extra order for a Turkey club sandwich and a cup of butternut squash bisque (soup) to go and we gave it to the man a few minutes after it came to our table. When we checked out Brittany was sweet enough to pay for my and Mallory's meals, and I bought the man's meal on a separate check. I left a large tip (wish it could have been larger but I was keeping my cost down given our current situation) and a sweet note for our waitress who was entirely lovely and reminded me of Rooney Mara...who I have a little bit of a girl crush on. It was a great way to spend a lunch. Plus, Mallory stuck around to help me do the next couple acts of kindness!

 Brittany, Mallory, & Me on our way to Acts 11 & 12

Act 11 of 28

My husband and I love Mumford & Sons. We love music in general (we took Owen and Mac to their first concert last summer!) but M&S has been a new favorite for about a year. When trying to think of a quote or song lyric to write on a poster to walk down University Avenue with and then post somewhere on UF's campus, this lyric from Sigh No More came to mind and I knew it was the right one. We walked down University Avenue, and down a block or so before turning into Anderson Hall and taping it into the wall. Hopefully some students enjoyed it. 

Act 12 of 28

After leaving Anderson Hall we walked in front of Smathers Library and decorated a section of the sidewalk between the entrance and the Plaza of the Americas. We wrote things such as, "You're beautiful, Live the life you've imagined, Keep the faith, And then I realized Adventure was the best way to learn, You are AMAZING right now, Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, Adventure is out there, If not now, when?, Be in love with new cities you've never seen, and people you've never met, & Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith" - plus some fun doodles and hashtags in case anyone wanted to share their own photos or look up what we were doing. 

Act 13 of 28

For act 13, we took some canned goods to St. Francis house and donated them to help feed the homeless. We also gave the last of my cookies and some more food to two men that were outside and hungry as a second part of act 10. This man is named Levon. He was getting ready to spend his first night at St. Francis after having been kicked out of his son's house and having nowhere else to go. He had formerly been a physical trainer, was well-spoken and very sweet. We talked with him for a few minutes, gave him what we could and told him we'd pray and hoped he would keep the faith and keep trying to make things better. We also gave a note of hope and some food to another man named Hootie and Brittany got a chance to speak with him while I moved our car. He told her that his mother had always told him to remember J.O.Y. - Jesus, Others, and Yourself. Meeting these guys changed my perspective on life and is why I'll be making whatever food I can to come out and feed who I can once a week from now on. We should all be doing something to help those in need - how or why they are there or in that situation is not ours to judge. Our job is to love them and do what we can to help them. No one should go hungry. There are no exceptions to this. 

Act 14 of 28

After leaving St. Francis we headed back to the west side of town and stopped at Publix to pick up a little bunch of flowers and to do a few more acts of kindness. We gave a note of thanks and a scratchoff lottery ticket to our cashier to continue adding onto act 3, and for act 14 we left a note (no mocking my drawing skills....or total lack thereof) on the women's bathroom wall and the last scratchoff ticket I had. Hopefully someone found a little humor in my note and horrible artistic skills. - Or struck it big with the ticket! Haha. 

Act 15 of 28

Next we went and left notes on cars in the parking lot to brighten peoples' days as they returned from their errands. This one said, "When something goes wrong in your life, just yell 'PLOT TWIST!' and move on." - others said, "Be Awesome Today!" and "You're smile warms people's hearts - you should use it more often, you never know who could need it." along with some others. 

Act 16 of 28

Last, before leaving Publix, I took some carts in for shoppers - this was actually much harder than I'd anticipated because I forgot how incredibly efficient Publix workers are about bringing in carts! But none the less, I found some and returned them!

Act 17 of 28

We then left Publix and headed over to the Oaks Mall. We put tags explaining what I was doing on the stems of flowers I had purchased at Publix a few minutes before and handed them out to different people (the first of which was a young guy with his girlfriend - he rather than she actually said he'd like one! It was so cute!) 5 in total. While doing this act I also attempted my only entirely failed act of the day, which was carrying around a sign that said 'Free Hugs' and had not a single person take me up on it. So we replaced it with a different idea for Act 20 and moved on. PLOT TWIST!

Act 18 of 28

For act 18, we went into the mall restroom area and posted notes on the diaper changing bench, the door of the breastfeeding room, and the mirrors of the women's bathroom. (We also left a couple around the mall, including one on the register counter of Sephora since the people who work there are always incredibly sweet and helpful whenever I shop there and one on a dressing room mirror of Francesca's to boost someone's confidence as they try on something new) They said things like, "You're an amazing parent!, You're doing a great job!, Once we've accepted our flaws, no one can use them against us, & You're not the kind of girl who settles - keep not settling!" I was and do hope that they made some moms and girls feel better about themselves. The second picture there you see is actually a screenshot that one of Brittany's friends took of her Facebook feed where one of her other friends (that we don't know) shared that she received the note from the diaper changing bench! It was awesome to know how someone felt seeing the notes we left!

Act 19 of 28

For act 19, we took two packages of bubbles over to the kid's play area in the mall and gave them to parents with tags explaining what we were doing so that they could give us the okay and also decide on their own terms when they wanted to share the bubbles with their child (as a mom, I thought this was a far better plan than just leaving them or giving them directly to kids like a creepy stranger). One mom immediately opened it and started letting her little girl play and start learning how to blow bubbles for herself - it was adorable!

 Act 20 of 28

For act 20, I gave a note of thanks to a postman for being so sweet and doing his job so well. We didn't get a picture in town but at the same time saw this on the window of the Ann Taylor store and thought it needed to be shared anyway. My sister posted it on her Facebook (as she had been doing with each act all day long) with the caption, "'Know a girl who wants to change the world?' I think I do." - and she's right. 

Act 21 of 28

For act 21, we left quarters at the candy vending machines for kids to pick out which candy they wanted to enjoy without having to bug their parents for change. :) Hopefully this made some little one's day!

Act 22 of 28

Act 22 consisted of me picking up trash and throwing it away around the food court and rest of the mall. My sister called it cleaning up Gainesville, one piece at a time. True that!

Act 23 of 28

I left dollars taped to the drink vending machines (5 in total) and wrote on them with sharpie #lawofbambi and Random Act of Kindness. Let's hope someone enjoyed the free drinks and hydration or pick me up of a free soda! 

 Act 24 of 28

For act 24, I tried to remember through the day to pay genuine compliments to people when I saw them (I missed one at lunch so here that is in case for some random reason, the guy ever sees it: "You, sir, who walked down University Ave in a 'Shrute Beets Motel' shirt or something along that line - you gave me a chuckle and I want your shirt!"). This picture is of me telling Krystal, a hair stylist at Mia & Maxx that I love her hair. I'm going to get her to trim my hair soon as it's already getting straggly. :)

Act 25 of 28

I left tags explaining what I was doing with heads up Lucky pennies on 5 different cars in the mall parking lot for act 25. Hopefully it brought luck to at least one of them!

Act 26 of 28

For act 26 we went across the parking lot to Toys 'R Us and left some cash with attached tags in the little toy bins up front for kids to find and get a little toy!

Act 27 of 28

For my last birthday act of the day, I took a note of admiration and some bath fizzies to my friend Megan. She and her husband adopted a gorgeous little boy named Luke this year (who I've written about in the past) and I thought she needed a note of early mom encouragement as well as to know how amazing I think she is and how inspiring I think she is. I also dropped off a long-promised bag of hand-me-down clothes for Luke haha. 

Act 28 of 28

Last act of the day! For this act, I wanted it to be my 'One to Grow On' as all birthdays should have. I also wanted to use a play on those words that my friend Catherine had said earlier last week - grow on, as in grow forward and out. Tiny Superheroes is a humanitarian effort to give handmade superhero capes to kids fighting a disability or illness (I posted about them last week). They seek to empower these kids and allow them to embrace how truly awesome they are. My son Owen turns 3 on the 22nd and for his birthday party we're doing a superhero theme (he loves Batman these days) and are asking friends and family to support Tiny Superheroes in Owen's honor in place of gifts. This ambassador kit will supply the guests of Owen's party with a bracelet and card explaining the stories of some spectacular tiny superheroes. 

So! There we are! It was a full day and was finished perfectly by going home to my family's traditional birthday dinner with my favorite meal of pot roast and watching Despicable Me 2 with my sons (again). Thank you all for reading all of this and for supporting me in this project. It was amazing! Happy Birthday to me!