Some acts of kindness can blow a person away. And that’s just what happened to me on April 1st.
A little boy, Miles, and his grandpa, George, showed up at our front door. Miles, age 3 ½, had something in his hand, something they wanted to give to me. I showed him where the mail slot was and explained that’s where the mail carrier puts our deliveries. I went back inside, closed the door, and waited for the envelope to plop through the mail slot.
Then I grabbed it and went back on the porch with them to open it.
It was $100.
$100! No strings attached. $100 cash to do with what I pleased.
It turned out George and Miles were on their first stop of a month of SPREADING KINDNESS! George had made a plan to give $100 each day in April to someone. To surprise them! Well, he sure surprised me!
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| Miles and his grandpa, George |
I was taken aback! It was as if the roles were reversed… Usually I am on the giving side, not the receiving side… And as George and I talked and brainstormed about other people/places he could surprise and treat during April, I grew more excited about the possibilities!
I decided to hold onto the $100 until the end of the month because I wanted to see what George and Miles found to do with their envelopes. Maybe one of their missions would inspire me in how I should use the money. It felt like such a huge decision!!! I wanted to make sure to use it in just the right manner to honor two kind people who had been so generous.
Well, I got contacted yesterday that George and Miles were going to make a reappearance at our house. They came the FIRST day of their project, and Miles had chosen me to get ANOTHER GIFT ON THE FINAL DAY!! I was so excited this morning waiting and watching for them!
Sure enough, at the appointed time they pulled up on Grandpa’s bike – Miles in his helmet and a special seat on the front. (Later I would learn that Miles is in charge of ringing the bike bell if someone gets near the bike. Big responsibility for a little guy!) Just seeing the two of them made me smile so big!! George gave Miles the envelope, and Miles scrambled up the stairs. We repeated the game of putting it through the mail slot, and I was honored and delighted to find another “hunnit bucks” (as Miles says) inside!! We talked a while and soon they were off to do another repeat surprise.
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Put money in 2
baby onesies at Goodwill
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Slipped money
under an ambulance’s windshield wiper
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Taped money next
to a sleeping homeless person
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Put money in
random bags of food being handed out at a giveaway
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Donated to several
very worthy organizations
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Treated school
lunch staff
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And gave a great
tip to a server!
That is just a few of the amazing ways they spread kindness. You can see how careful and deliberate they were in their gifts, which is why I want to make sure I use what they gave me in just the right way.
And I really thought that I found the perfect opportunity to share the kindness this afternoon! It was the same day as the gifters had returned, and I saw just the right opportunity (I thought). It felt like kismet!
Through the kitchen window I could see a woman stopped at the Little Yellow Free Pantry. The bags she carried made it appear that she may be homeless. As I do whenever I see someone browsing in the pantry, I rushed out to greet her. She looked about my age and was very sweet. She said that because it is the end of the month, she was low on food. Food stamps would come Monday. I explained that the food in the pantry is donated by caring neighbors and if she told me what she wanted I would go inside and make a bag. She had seen a small container of chocolate milk in the pantry and said that was all she needed.
All of my, “No, really, there is a lot of food in the house, just tell me what you would like and I will bring it out for you!” utterances were met with her assurance that the small chocolate milk was all she wanted.
We continued our conversation – talking about how great the weather is, how nice the neighborhood is, etc. I encouraged her to smell a rose on our bush – they are the sweetest smelling roses ever. She talked about healthcare, yoga, meditation… We talked about diet and what food means to people. After a while my sweetheart David came out and joined us. It was nice, the 3 of us standing and chatting. It sort of felt like the “old days” pre-Covid.
At one point she told us she “lives outdoors”. I loved that expression. It held dignity in a way that “homeless” does not. It made me think she was not “less” a home, she was “more” an outdoor space. As she let us into her world it was clear that there may be some mental illness involved. Sometimes her reality and “normal” reality (“normal” was her word, not mine) did not seem to mesh. I was so honored that she felt comfortable talking with us. She eventually talked about being homeless – how it is different in each city she has lived in, and how in DC it is particularly dangerous. I asked if she wanted to live outdoors, or if she would prefer to be housed. She smiled and told us that if we had asked her that in the cold winter, she would have said housed, at least for a night. But now that warm weather is here she is happy being in the open air.
As we talked, I thought of the money given to me this morning. I felt THIS WOMAN was the right recipient. Imagine what $100 could do for her! A hotel for the night if she wanted – soft bed, warm shower… A nice, warm meal. Vitamins for her health. A better bag to carry her things. So many options.
I told her I had a couple of things for her and ran into the house to get scissors, a clothes pin, and $100. I told her I was going to give her the rose we smelled, and she resisted the gift. She said to leave it on the bush for other people to smell as they went by. But I insisted, and cut it off and presented it to her with the clothespin so she could pin it wherever she wanted.
Then I pulled out the envelope with the money. I explained that I had been gifted this just this morning to spread kindness, and I chose her to receive it.
Her gentle eyes looked at me. She smiled. And she said no thank you.
“I have a rule, a personal rule, not to take money from people,” she explained.
And all of my, “But it is for YOU!” and, “Here, I put it in the pantry, now you are taking it from there and not from me…” did not work. She would not take it.
She explained that she did not need the money. She was good. And I think she was right - she looked content.
I told her I would hold it for her. I have written her name on the envelope and hung it on the refrigerator. I suspect she will come back to talk. I told her she can ring the doorbell anytime and ask for her money – if she doesn’t want all of it, maybe $20 or $5. She smiled. She knows it is there for her.
I hope that the bad people in her mind quiet down. I hope that she meditates as she walks, like she learned to do in another city. I hope that she stays safe. I hope she gets vaccinated. I hope that she finds a quiet, warm place to sleep tonight.
And I thank her for the lesson. Sometimes, even when it seems like you have almost nothing at all, you have absolutely everything you could want.
