bye-bye, 180s!/random acts of kindness

First of all, I lost 3 more pounds this week, putting me into the 170s. Whoo hoo! I can't believe how far I've come. I can't remember the last time I weighed 178 pounds. I can't believe I'm in a size 14 jean. Boy, that's a lot of negatives for a girl in such a positive mood! :) Happiness. That's all.

Now for my second topic: random acts of kindness (RAKs). Recently, they discussed RAKs in Nick's preschool class, and the teachers sent home a sheet where they wanted us to record 5 RAKs performed by our child. That was pretty easy, as Nick is a sweet boy. These included such things as offering me a bite of his food, telling me he loved me out of the blue, etc.

This got me to thinking about RAKs. I remember years ago when that phrase became popular, putting a specific label on something that all of humankind should be doing naturally. I do my best to perform little RAKs most every day - things like telling someone I like her earrings, sending an email to a friend just because, etc. If I'm at WalMart and I see something that I know a friend wants or needs, I'll just pick it up for her. Stuff like that. But, I've always wanted to up the ante a little bit - kick it up a notch, if you will. Do something a little more off-the-wall and truly "random." For several years now, I have harbored the idea of paying for the person behind me in the McDonald's drive-through. I've wanted to do this for the longest time, but it seems like I never think of it when I'm actually IN the drive-through - just at other times. Well, today, I finally thought of it when I was actually there; I'm sure that this was caused in part by the warm, fuzzy Christmas spirit that has fully bloomed within me over the past week. Anywho, I got to the window and paid for my food, and then I said "I want to pay for the next person." The employee said "The woman in the van?", and I said "Sure!" It took her a minute to catch on - at first, she thought that I knew this person. I explained to her that I didn't know her from Eve and was just performing a holiday RAK. She acted like that was the coolest thing she'd ever heard of. I told her to just tell the woman that I said "Merry Christmas," and that I hope she'll pay it forward (Jill - you and I are of a similar mind lately!) by doing a RAK for someone else. Here's the best part: I looked in my rear-view mirror as the woman pulled up to the window. She held out her money, listened for a second, and then got a huge grin on her face. She waved at me, and I waved back, and then it was time for me to drive away. She didn't know who I was and will never know, and that is so cool! It wasn't about recognition - it was just about making someone's day. And I'm not going on about this in my blog to get kudos for it - honest! I'm going on about it because it felt even better than I thought it would. I have had my own grin pasted on my face ever since I got home, and I still get a rush just thinking about it.

So here's what I say to everyone reading this post: I challenge you to perform your own truly random act of kindness ASAP, whether it be the drive-through thing or something else. Be creative! Then, comment on this post and tell me about it. Let's start a sensation!

Merry Christmas to all.