PIF: Day Twenty-Nine

Pay It Forward: Day Twenty-Nine

Ever since this project began, I had hoped to be able to just walk up to someone and give them a gift card. I had a leftover $5 to a mega coffee company, that had been burning a hole in my pocket.

My issue this whole month had been how to give it to some random stranger without them thinking I was a "freak" or refusing it all together. 

Today, I popped it into my pocket and looked for a way to use it. As our family is still really sick (read: Liam went to one urgent care with Tim tonight while I went to another). Fun times, no? Anywho, I somehow misplaced my ID during the shopping extravaganza know as Black Friday weekend. And, I thought about giving the card to the person at the urgent care center who saw me without my ID even though their policy is strictly not to. Or, to the pharmacist at our local retailer who always keeps an eye out when doctors prescribe something that is in the Aspirin family (which I am allergic to). But, I decided I really didn't want it to be about giving someone something because "I got my way." or "As a thanks.". I wanted it to go to someone I would probably never see again.

So, I scoped out the store for a full 15 minutes. Since, the gift card was only for $5, I didn't want to give it to a couple, or a mom with a gaggle of kids since it wouldn't be enough to cover everyone. I found a few "single" candidates, but they were of course ALL on their phones. Finally I found a lady in the toy section obviously doing her holiday shopping and she had on an Orioles shirt (Let's Go O's!). So she was to be on the receiving end of my pay it forward today. So, I walked down her aisle and said, "Excuse me." and I kid you not she jumped back 5 rows of Matchbox cars, crossed her arms and turned her body. Apparently ready for some full scale assault. And, so my pay it forward went a little something like this, "I promise I'm not going to attack you (she relaxed only slightly). I'm spending the month doing nice things for others, enjoy a coffee on me." She smiled, said thank you, but I'm pretty sure she though I was trying to kill her covertly with a gift card. :D

In other news, my post was short last night due to the lack of internet. But, Tim took the monitor in the morning and also took Liam out to "look at cars" so I could have time to work on my blog. I ended up sleeping, trying to rid this vicious illness that has a hold on our house. It was lovely, unexpected and really awesome. Thanks, Big Dude and Little Dude!

My friend, Jamie tried to donate blood today but they wouldn't let her. A+ for effort!

Make sure to gather up your random acts of kindness as the first 30 readers to share theirs tomorrow will be "sweetly" rewarded. So, make a note to check back in tomorrow.

PIF: Day Nineteen

Pay It Forward: Day Nineteen

Thwarted (almost). Tonight was special in our town as it was the official arrival of Santa Claus and the Christmas Tree lighting. We've been the last two years and were really looking forward to this tradition again this year. We even had several friends with whom we were going to meet up, making it an extra fun evening. Liam and I went out and purchased some blinking noses for the kids. In the past the event has provided all sorts of kid-friendly swag, but the organizers decided to cut that from the program this year. We originally went in for glow sticks and had no luck, instead we found these adorable (and cheap) light up reindeer noses. Yay! So, I bought four extras to give out to random kids that we encountered throughout the evening. I was stoked that it would be a fun pay it forward for me and definitely a bonus for the kids who were on the receiving end. 

Fast forward to Liam's nap that he semi-boycotted. He was playing and singing and drumming, but most definitely not sleeping. When Tim got home, I suggested that he go get Liam and bring him into our room for a family snuggle and maybe he'd get a bit of shut-eye that way. Tim attended to a few things and then came back for the snuggle-a-thon and wouldn't you know it Little Dude fell asleep one hour before we needed to head out. So we let him sleep, got everything together for the event and went to wake him up...and that's when we saw that he probably had pink eye. Both of our hearts sank, knowing that we would not be able to take him. This is the first year that I think he'd really get it all, and we missed it--there was definitely some mourning going on. 

So, we packed him up and took him to the after-care doctor and waited and waited and waited for them to tell us what we suspected, that he did indeed have pink eye. Poor dude. So, it looks like we'll be hanging out here this weekend.

We did stop off for a quick bite after picking up his medicine, because he specifically requested chicken and he missed Santa for crying out loud. We decided we'd wipe everything down and took him for a quick bite to eat. Except, they never brought my food. (sigh) I ended up having to take it home in a box, since Tim and Liam were completely done and had been for some time by the time things got sorted out with my meal. Regardless of the fact that signals got crossed somewhere between the server and the kitchen I put a $5 coffee gift card in with her tip. Hope it helped turn her night around.

Find a way to turn someone's day around this weekend.

**Updated: I also did a little pay it forward for the bloggers in my life. I changed my Blogroll for the rest of the month to place those most recently updated in the top slot. The more you blog, the better position you get for the rest of November here. :)