An Act Of Kindness

I get locked in my mood, sometimes. I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, realize I forgot to make coffee, get out the door late, remember that I didn't pay a bill that needed paying, and the day goes on from there, down a craptastic hill, at breakneck speed.

And when the day gets started like that, sometimes, the negative is all I see.

Which is too bad, really. I'm missing so many good things, when all I focus on is the negative. And, I'm not a negative person by nature. It drives my husband crazy that I tend to be so positive and optimistic. But, you know, one of us has to be.

It seems like it's when I'm in the worst of these cycles, I receive some random act of kindness.  Like the other day when my girlfriend dropped off flowers for me. She did it just because she knew I was having a rough week, and thought it might make me smile. It did.

This week, Karina, has been out in California. One of her friends from college is getting married, and they're doing wedding things together. Apparently she got to talking about all of her siblings out here and her younger brother with Autism.

Her friend's mom, it turns out, used to work with Autistic kids, and has a real love for them. I don't know how it came up exactly, but Karina must have mentioned that there were some things we've wanted to get for him for the longest time, but have been too expensive.

I don't talk too much about the expense of Autism. People living with it, know. The adaptive equipment, and so on, it can bankrupt families. And some families, like mine, just go without things that their kids need. There's just no other choice. It sucks, but it's the way things are, and there's just no point in complaining about it.

So, her friends mom decided to give us the money to get them. It's not a small amount of money, either.

I'll be honest, I nearly cried. (Or, you know, I might have actually cried)

That someone who has never met me, and never met Ciaran, would want to do something like that, just floored me. And she did it for no other reason, than because she has a good heart, and was touched by his story.

Kindness lives everywhere, people. 

In places you've never seen and in people you've never met. 

This particular act of kindness is a huge benefit to my son, and so to our whole family. And it completely snapped me out of my negative cycle. To be shown kindness for no reason, is profoundly humbling.

I can't pay back all the kindnesses that have been done to me, and all the people who have reached out to me in love, expecting nothing in return.  Instead, this reminded me how important it is for me to continue to pay it forward. Something all of us can do.

Never hesitate to show kindness to people. As Aesop says, "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

*****

That you read my blog is a kindness. It reminds me that I'm not alone, and I appreciate every one of you who stops by to read. If you'd like, please click the link below, which registers a vote for my blog. I really appreciate it!