Day 8: (Rarely) Take Candy From Strangers

I cannot believe that we are already a couple of days into week two!  The first week was awesome... so many of you showed huge kindness through little things, big things, and in-between things.  If you have no idea what I am talking about, I am going to make it really easy for you to get all caught up:

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Days Five & Six
Day 7

Okay?  Now that you are caught up, inspired, and really impressed with the fact that my head officially fits into a toddlers swim cap... we can move on to Day 8.

For Day 8, I was blessed with handmade slippers by my talented friend Siobhan, and the anonymous carbohydrate fairy left us an industrial size cookie cake on our porch first thing in the morning.  I realize these aren't my acts of kindness... but I will tell you how they will bless others.  Slippers cover my feet, which are not adorable, so the discretion they offer is a kindness to anyone around me during slipper weather.  The cookie cake was large enough to feed one battalion of people who eat a lot, so it got shared like nobody's business.

For my act of kindness, I wanted to surprise a stranger and make them feel really special.  I bought a Thinking of You balloon and a tiny box of chocolates.  I saw the cutest little girl in the world and asked her parents permission to allow their child to take candy from strangers just this once.  They gave me the green light and I gave the little girl her gifts and a little speech.  I told her that when I saw her I could tell that she was really special, so she just had to have a prize.  I told her that she was smart and beautiful and that as special as she is now, that she will keep getting more and more special as she grows up, and that I just know she is going to do something really important when she's big.  She had little tears in her eyes when I first walked up, and her little lip was curled over just the smallest bit when I was giving my "I Believe You Can Fly" graduation speech.  She was precious. And when I got in the car, I inexplicably started crying. Maybe I wish I could go back to my childhood self and give me a balloon and inspire little me with that sweet, sweet R&B space jam.

So that was mine. But, this is a family thing so the best #AdamsActs didn't come from me. It came from my 5th grade daughter. As a mom, nothing could make me more proud.  Especially because, as well-behaved and remarkable as I believe my children to be, there has been a small history of questionable choices along the way... 

Like that time London wanted to  blind the baby with metal spikes  give head massages.

Or their choices in home decor...

Or how they peep at the neigbor's...

Or that one time when the chapstick looked a little like a weenie...

Or when the "handcuff" drawing looked a little like a weenie...

Or the way they carry their  no longer  clean laundry to their room...

Or when they breath in each other's faces...

Or when they wear this hat like that...

Or when they smuggle silver dollars to school to buy ice cream  on the black market. 

Or when they are showing earwax in someones face...

You get the point... earwax has been shown, eyes have been poked, socks have been scandalously stuffed in the nether regions.  So when I got a note from one of Annalee's former teachers on Day 8, I was very thrilled.  

It read:

Hi Lara!  In the spirit of AdamsActs, I have to tell you about Annalee.  She has been tutoring one of my students whose academic skills are that of a kindergartner. I put him with Annalee in the morning to review skills in simple addition and subtraction. She has made him feel valued as a student, and had allowed him to be a third grader with dignity. She is sensitive to his needs, and is helping him grow as a learner every day. She is remarkable, and the most sensitive and caring little girl I know.  He told me that he could "minus" today (subtract) because of her (Annalee). I don't know whether to beam with pride that I know her, or cry on behalf of the kindness. I think I may do both. :) Katie

#JustLikeHerUncleAdam