Clean House Kindness

In November 2011, Felicia was newly separated from her husband.  She had three young kids, a stressful job, and was just starting to learn to navigate “solo” in the world (insert deep breath).  But she also had some super supportive friends who were bound and determined to make this transition easier for her.  Here is what she told me:

Felicia and kids in Disney - she thought THIS was the big event.  Little did she know what was waiting for her back home...

“Despite the challenging times, I had planned a Disney trip for my three kids and me. It was my first big adventure as a single parent. We spent a wonderful week in Florida, during my birthday week  (WINNING!!) and returned home to a most wonderful surprise.  A group of 10-15 of my close friends had gotten together and coordinated a mammoth effort to clean my home and give it a bit of a makeover. They greeted us as we pulled into the driveway.  I had no idea what was in store - I just thought they were welcoming us home with balloons and flowers. But then they proceeded to walk me through the house and show me all of their hard work. It looked like a model home, staged for the real estate market! Every room had been cleaned and re-organized and all of the clutter was gone. And the best part was – there were love notes left in various cabinets and drawers throughout the house, to remind me how loved I was.”

SURPRISE!!  Welcome home to your clean, love filled house!!

Isn’t that an amazing and kind surprise???  Her friends are awesome!!  They were people from all areas of her life - her family (Mom, sister and sister-in-law), sign language interpreter friends new and old, close girlfriends who had been supporting her through the separation, even some friends she had known since elementary school.  They all got together to make her life not only cleaner, but less stressful and more full of love.

When I asked her how the big surprise made her feel, she said, “I was speechless...awed...humbled.  I felt like I had just won the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes!  It was like they were standing at my door with a big check for me. I was surrounded in so much warmth, love and support. It was truly the most amazing kindness I had ever experienced.”

Facebook status after the big CLEAN HOUSE reveal :)

I asked Felicia to consider how her friends must have felt after surprising her.  She explained it so well, “When someone is going through a difficult time in life - divorce, loss of a loved one, loss of a job, etc, people often don't know what to do or how to help.  I was at one of the lowest of the low times in my life, and while I knew I had an amazing support system in place, people didn't know what to DO for me.  This was how they could help - they sacrificed their time (and their hands and knees) to scrub my house from top to bottom and make it a warm welcoming place for my kids and I to return to. They wanted to help and they sure did. They showed their love and support. I can only imagine how such a selfless act affected each and every one of them.”

The main premise of this Kindness Activist project is that when we hear about kind things that others do or receive, we are in turned inspired to be kind.  So I wondered if RECEIVING this amazing, generous kindness made Felicia want to “pay it forward” and be kind to someone else.  I was not surprised when she said, “ABSOLUTELY!  Most definitely!”

She says, “While I have always had a giving spirit, I was in a tough spot and really couldn't even take care myself.  But this act of love reminded me that I was going to be ok and that I was strong. It revived me.   There hasn't been another experience in my life that parallels this act of love and kindness in terms of the power it had to lift my spirits and make me feel loved. I am still humbled by the kindness they each contributed to.  And I know today as much as I did then, that I am a lucky girl and that I have some AMAZING people in my life!”

This photo of Felicia and kids captures it perfectly - L O V E.

Well Felicia, I agree with you.  That was an awesome gift of kindness that your friends and family gave you.  Thanks for being willing to share it with us and inspire OTHERS to be kind. 

If YOU have given or received kindness, please tell me about it!  I would love to be inspired by your story.  Email me at kindnessactivist@gmail.com .  And “like” Kindness Activist on Facebook!  

Waffle Kindness

The Bergman family (Michael, Sam, Amy, and Zach) live in the DC Metro area (as do we) and we run into them at a lot of theatre events.  It is always fun to see them, and I was particularly happy when I saw a Facebook post mentioning a very sweet gesture of kindness that their family shared.  I asked them if I could include it here and they agreed.

“Here's the story of our Waffle House encounter.

Anyone who has made a cross country drive will recognize this sign.

My family had spent the better part of a week at The Happiest Place on Earth (Walt Disney World) in Orlando, Florida. It takes a tremendous amount of work on the part of the employees (cast members, they’re called) to keep everything running smoothly and to keep all of the guests happy, especially when the parks are very crowded. 

This event happened on December 30^th, and the entire park had been turned into a huge dance party, which had the cast members in the streets, dancing with guest until past midnight, while they directed traffic to keep the huge crowds moving. I remarked to my family that while it certainly looked like the cast members were having a lot of fun, but were, after all, still on duty. It was after 1:00 AM by the time the fireworks were over and we left. 

My wife said that she was hungry, and since all of the restaurants on-site were closed by then, we drove to a Waffle House nearby. We walked in, and there were two Disney employees, still in their Magic Kingdom uniforms, having something to eat. I said to my wife, “I’d like to pick up their check."  She agreed, sharing the thought that our vacation would not be as fun, as engaging, were it not for the positive attitudes of the cast members, even in the face of cranky guests and long hours.

So we called over their waitress and told her not to make a big deal out of it, but to simply bring us their bill and tell them we were "sharing the magic."  When they signaled to the waitress that they wanted to leave, she told them that everything had been taken care of. They were surprised, to say the least. They came over to our table. “No one has ever done this before. You made our night. Thank you so much.”  We told them that this was just a small gesture to thank them for how much joy they brought to families at the park. There was lots of hugging and thanking all around. They wanted to take a picture with us, so we asked a waitress to take one for them and one for us. 

I love this photo - you cannot NOT smile when you see it.  

It’s such a simple thing really - to recognize the people who make our lives more fun, more interesting. It really took no effort on our part, and it made these two folks feel good about themselves and what they do.

And for a brief moment, a Waffle House just outside of Walt Disney World became The Happiest Place on Earth.

All members of our family have many more stories similar to this one, as we place a great value on being nice people. To quote Felix Unger, "It's nice to be nice to the nice". “

Thank you again for sharing Bergman family!!!  Your kindness most certainly makes the world a better place.  You are KINDNESS ACTIVISTS for sure (you will get kindness activist buttons soon!). 

What about YOU - have you been the recipient of kindness?  A giver of it?  Witnessed kindness?  Please take a moment to tell me about it so that I can share it here.  KINDNESS SHARED IS KINDNESS MULTIPLIED!  Send me your kindness at:  kindnessactivist@gmail.com