H is for "How I Had the Happiest of Birthdays (aka: 43 Random Acts of Kindness)!"

H is for "How I Had the Happiest of Birthdays 

(aka: 43 Random Acts of Kindness)!"

A RAOK from my brother and his family on the scoreboard at Fenway Park- it made my day, and brought a donation to the Red Sox Foundation!

A banner my parents made to greet me when I arrived at their house- one of their many RAOK!

A couple of "posts ago", I mentioned that I had been inspired by fellow blogger Robyn Bowmar, who for her 38th birthday, decided she'd like to attempt to perform 38 Random Acts of Kindness.  She was so inspired by how great it felt to do so much for others, that she created The Birthday Project, which encourages and celebrates others who also would like to perform RAOK for their birthdays.

I decided that THIS was how I most wanted to spend my 43rd birthday on July 22nd, and so I set out last week to plan my "not so random" acts!  In fact, my previous post details some of the preparations we enjoyed!

Since my husband and I had plans to spend my birthday rooting for the Red Sox (turns out our cheering wasn't nearly enough- they lost by a landslide), the family decided to make a weekend out of our RAOK, so here's what we did! :

1. We donated tooth brushes and beautiful, plush washcloths to our local homeless shelter.

2. We also donated 5 gift cards to Dunkin' Donuts, so shelter clients would have a good way to escape the heat.

3. We donated 7 bags of clothing and baby toys to Goodwill

4. We donated 4 bags of books to our local library's "Friends" program

5. We fed "soon to expire" parking meters in New Haven (where they even enforce meters on Saturday!)

6. We brought dessert to some construction workers having lunch.
7. While buying dessert, we paid for the coffee of the person behind us in line, and we left before he knew it was us :-)!

8. We brought 5 gift-wrapped gift cards to our favorite bookstore, and left them with the employees to distribute to any customers they chose.  We attached a note that said:

"Guess what????  It’s my 43^rd birthday, and I’ve chosen to celebrate by performing 43 random acts of kindness (R.A.O.K. J) over my birthday weekend!  Please accept this $5.00 gift card in honor of my birthday, enjoy it, and “pay it forward” by performing your own R.A.O.K. this weekend! :-)"

9.  We went to another bookstore, and quietly tucked 24 sheets of stickers into books for young children.  Can you  read the message we attached?

 10.  We left a few of these notes (and lots of quarters) at a laundromat.  

11.  We brought a ton of bottles to be recycled, and earned the quarters above!

 12.  I renewed my registration as a bone marrow donor at the National Bone Marrow Registry.

13.  We brought children's magazines to our hair salon; the kids were grateful to have something others than People or Us Weekly to read ;-).

14. My husband weeded my parents' front yard.

15.  We returned rogue shopping carts to their rightful spots.

16. Picked up a swimsuit coverup for my mom we knew she'd been thinking about purchasing.

17. We stopped and helped a woman pick up the contents of her bag that she'd spilled all over the sidewalk.

18.  We put furniture we no longer need on the curb for someone who might be able to use it.  It was picked up in minutes!

19. While out shopping for supplies, we met a homeless man who asked for any assistance we could provide.  We brought him lunch.

20.  We created a "Not to be Missed" list of things to see and do on vacation for friends who are going to visit one of our favorite vacation spots.

21.  We left dog biscuits in a friend's mailbox who recently adopted a dog.

22.  We passed on some clothes to a friend's daughter.

23.  We helped set up and clean up for a concert in which our daughter was playing.

24.  We helped serve pizza at the camp pizza party, and donated LOTS o'bagels for snack.

25.  We gift wrapped a $10 gift card for Friendly's (with a note explaining RAOK), and left it with a waiter who gave it to a family after we left.

26.  We gift wrapped a $10 gift card to Panera (with a note explaining RAOK) and placed it on the counter as a family was paying and said, "This is for you!" and left...on our way out, employees had a lemonade stand to benefit Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, so...

27.  We bought 3 lemonades to benefit the hospital programming!

We put some correspondence together!   Included in the photo above are:

28.  A book to mail a friend who mentioned she enjoys reading about India- it's one from our collection called "Holy Cow"!

29.  A gift for some friends who just adopted a beautiful boy!

30. A fun package for our little cousins made up of a couple of costumes, some books, and some DVD's we've outgrown.

31.. A donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation 

32.  A card for some friends who just had a baby.

33.  An anonymous card for a neighbor we don't know, but who every year hangs the most beautiful holiday lights- we want them to know how much we enjoy them!

So, at the Red Sox game, we did the following:


34.  On the way, we stopped for coffee, and left $ with the cashier to cover coffee for the next customer who came in.
35.  We paid for our own parking, and then prepaid for the next car.

I handed out birthday "Goodie Bags":

36.  I handed out 20 of the gift bags above to fellow Sox fans before the game started:

37.  We bought $5.00 in 50/50 raffle tickets to support the Red Sox Foundation .
38.  We gave directions to a family unsure of which stop to choose on the "T"
39.  We helped a young family get their HUGE double stroller on to the "T" before the doors closed.
40.  We gave up our seats on the "T" to a new mom and an elderly woman.
41. I took photos of a couple outside of Fenway, so they'd have a picture with the two of them in it.
42.  We passed on our "Charlie Card" which still had $7.00 on it to a young man who was just headed towards the train, as we headed home from Boston.
43. We (hopefully) inspired others to try celebrating birthdays this way- it's AMAZING!

My entire family got into the spirit (once they got past the "oh lord, another hare-brained idea" phase ;-)!  While performing these RAOK's, and preparing for them, I learned a few things:

-"Random" doesn't necessarily have to mean "not on purpose"- just "an act of kindess" qualifies!
-Some people feel that telling others about RAOK's you perform somehow negates them; that talking about it means you're looking for congratulations.  Can't say I agree- if Robyn Bomar hadn't shared about how she spent her 38th birthday, I might have ended up spending my weekend in a totally different way- one that was focused inward instead of outward.  Robyn was not looking for praise- she was inspired, and she shared her inspiration!  Look at all the great things that have happened as a result of her sharing!

This was truly my best birthday ever (and that's saying something- I spent my 40th birthday at Canyon Ranch, and I left totally relaxed, but this weekend?  I ended it full of JOY!)  I loved every minute! 

Many of my amazing family and friends have shared stories of RAOK they performed either in honor of my birthday, or just because they're wonderful people!  Here are a few (which I promise to update whenever I receive more :-):

My mom and dad: Filled their gas tank and had my husband and I take their car to Boston, which used less gas than our van AND had EZ Pass!  They also took care of our kids for the day, and while we were away, my parents and kids washed, waxed, and vacuumed our van (which hasn't been waxed since we bought it....almost 9 years ago ;-)!

My brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew: made a donation in my honor to the Red Sox Foundation, and had a Happy Birthday greeting displayed on the score board at Fenway Park (pictured at the beginning of the post)!

My mother-in-law: Received a gift from my quilting buddies after Gramps passed away. Gave the unused portion back to a quilter who isn't as fortunate as the rest of us. My mother-in-law also helped fund some of our RAOK as part of her birthday gift to me :-)!

Charlene:  I donated blood on Thursday at Baystate's blood donor center.  I try to do this on a fairly regular basis but don't always remember to be so timely.  I also paid for the coffee of the person behind me in the drive-through line at Starbuck's.  There is something cool about doing that where the person doesn't know who you are and cannot thank you.  I asked the cashier to only tell the
person to pay it forward someday.

Darlene, Brooke, and Kevin: I gave a family a free family pass I had to the Beardsley Zoo when I overheard they were going there. Brooke found toys that are "too young" and gave them to me to give to one of my teacher's daughters who is 4. Kevin saw a lady in the parking lot of Home Depot with a lot of stuff and loaded her truck for her.

Alicia: So just now I went to the grocery store and realized that this was my last opportunity to squeak in the kindness for your birthday!!  So I planned to buy a gift card for the person behind me.  I was excited the whole time I was shopping just thinking about doing the nice thing!  And then while I was ringing up and the lady came behind me I got so excited I was shaking a little!  Then I bought the card and handed it to her and said, Happy Birthday.  She was very confused so I explained that it was my friend, Jen's birthday, and you had asked for RAOKs so this was my gift to you.  She tried to protest, saying "you don't have to do this", and finally accepted saying that she would be happy to "pass it on"!  Yay!  Success! Thank you, Jen, for the opportunity to get so excited and do something nice for a stranger.  Happy Birthday!!

Michele: So the O'C family has been gearing up this week for RAOK and these are the things we have done so far:
-left a happy note and an icy cold bottle of Poland Spring water in our mailbox for our mail carrier on Wednesday
-made brownies for the staff of Eli Whitney for the end of camp week
-made brownies for 2 of our neighbor family friends
-gave a $30 coupon to Old Navy to neighbors that have 3 kids and are way more organized vis a vis school shopping
-bought a backpack and stuffed it with school supplies for a 6 y.o. boy through our church's outreach team. Also found a matching lunchbox and one of those water bottles that filters water as you drink it in a matching color, so those went in the backpack, too
Have a great birthday weekend!

Angela:I just did some RAOK in Disney...we got fast passes and gave them away to another family...that way they could ride the rides that we knew we wern't going to go on BC we were leaving the park....we looked all over the place to find just the right family with the right number of kids...they were so excited to be able to go to splash mt...we also gave some passes away for a show...and Scott helped a family by holding their stroller on the bus so they can hold their children....we just got back...had a great time..

Anneke:I spent time yesterday and today going to through stuff and brought them to donation.  :)

Donna A.: I asked the waitress to bring a dessert to a man dining alone at Chili's, and add it to my check.I also gave up my front row parking spot at Target to a woman with some little kids, which is a HUGE deal- that parking lot is crazy!

Donna M.:  tons of things for family each day!

Amy and Madeline: Hosting a knitting group in their home.

Stacey: Helped  her friend do her entire resume- from providing the paper, typing it and posting it!

Jackie and Andy: Jackie purchased (and delivered) a case of flavored water for a visually impaired colleague who enjoys having it at the office.  Jackie's son, Andy, spent a long time entertaining and playing with some friends' younger children, one of whom has special needs.

Henry (my 96 year old next door neighbor who would think my whole project was "hooey", but who is also as unfailing kind as he is crotchety): thought of us while he was doing his grocery shopping and brought us a rotisserie chicken because, "you can't beat the deal for the meat on this buzzard" :-)! 

Mimi: My RAOK--in your honor---was buying a meal for the homeless woman that is often found on the bench at Stop & Shop. She was surprised and so happy.