I’m a little late writing on this subject, but I’ve wanted
to write about my 21st birthday for a long time now, and it’s never
too late, right?
On the days leading up to my 21st birthday, I was
doing a really good job at feeling bad for myself. I felt like nobody really
cared that I was having a birthday or that I was turning 21. So after finishing
up my little pity party I decided that I needed to find a way to stop thinking
of just myself. And immediately my mind went to service. There is no better way
to stop thinking about yourself than to think about others instead. That’s when
I decided that for my 21st birthday, I would perform 21 acts of
kindness.
I started at midnight J
As a chef, my husband was working late, so I went to my Mom’s
house the night before my birthday, just to avoid being home alone. It had been
a long day for my mom. It had been such a long day for my mom that she didn’t
clean the messy kitchen before she went to bed (which almost never happens! My
mom will stay up hours past her bedtime just so the kitchen is clean for the
next morning).
I was so excited to find my first Act of kindness!
My mom woke up to a clean kitchen the next morning. My Dad
was in Iraq at the time, and nobody would ever accuse one of my brothers of
cleaning, so my mom knew that I cleaned the kitchen. That was my first act of
kindness on my birthday.
Here is a list of the remaining acts of kindness from my
birthday:
2. Took cookies to my neighbor.
3. Bought a $20 gift card to the grocery store I was
shopping at, and handed it to the person behind me in the checkout line.
4. Went through the Wendy’s drive through and paid for 5
frosties to be given to the next 5 customers.
5. Gave an encouraging note and iTunes gift card to my
little brother.
6. Handed out lemonade to nearby construction workers
7. Left a couple of candy bars and a “Thank you” note for my
mail man
8. Drove up to a hot dog stand, jumped out of my car to
leave a generous tip, then jumped back into my car and drove away.
9. Gave lemonade to the high school kid holding/flipping a
sign to a nearby store
10. Gave Thank you cards to the all the people who have ever
helped me at my nearby bank.
11. Wrote a letter to my best friend and mailed it to her.
12. Wrote a long e-mail to an old friend telling her how I
look up to her.
13. Gathered and retuned shopping carts.
14. Left a “Have a good day!” card on a stranger’s car.
15. Gave a thank you card to my older brother with his
favorite candy bar.
16. Paid for a car behind me at a drive through.
17. Left flowers and a love letter for my husband to come
home to.
18. Gave lemonade to the trash men.
19. Delivered cookies to my sister-in-law and brother.
20. Held the door for customers at local store.
21. Went into frozen yogurt store, put $20 in the tip jar
(using $2 bills), and left.
Whenever somebody looked at me like I was crazy waiting for
me to explain my action, I would just tell them “It’s my birthday!” And
apparently that is suffice reason for my actions. I got lots of “Happy
Birthday!”s.
It was such a rewarding day, and suddenly I was happy and
not thinking about just me.
At the end of the day, my husband took me on a date, then
surprised me with a last minute surprise birthday party at my parents house
with my immediate family and a few of my closest friends. It meant a lot to me
that they were willing to drop everything that they were doing that evening
just to wish me a happy birthday.
I really am such a lucky girl J.
