Random acts of kindness (RAOK)

Happy 4th of July to my American friends, for my friends outside of the United States…Happy Monday! I will not be doing a meatless post today.

This is not a new post. A Dash of Domestic is not my first blog, I’m moving the “good posts” from my other blog over to this blog. So, this did not happen today….but I still practice random acts of kindness and I encourage you to do the same. Go forth and have a positive impact on your community. Enjoy this transferred post.

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original post date (over 1 year ago)
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I got hugged by a stranger this morning. It’s not a something that’s totally foreign to me, I’m a nice person and I like to help people. So, I’ve been on the receiving end of spontaneous stranger hugs before, but this morning was the first time it has ever happened while I was still wearing my pajamas.
I’m not a morning person. Have I mentioned that before? I’m slow-moving and bleary eyed, a turtle could beat me to “the finish line” and a bear would think twice about messing with me. I know my husband would think twice at least.

Slow and grumpy…that’s me.

So, imagine my internal struggle of grump vs help when I noticed a woman chasing papers on the street I take home every morning after dropping my daughter off at school.

Picture this…woman chasing 20 plus papers that have scattered across the road and the grassy area beside the road. As I get closer to her I noticed that no one is stopping to help this woman. These papers are obviously important to her, you don’t dodge traffic to retrieve trash.

So, I started to pass by, just like everyone else, but I felt the tug….God’s whisper to me to help. “I’m still in my pajama pants and slippers!” Help. “I’m grumpy, feeling yucky (sinus junk), I’ve got to wake my son.” Help. “I, I…..*sigh.” HELP. So I stopped and helped her I chased papers, in my pajama pants and slippers.

Turns out this was a report she had to present and she had left it on the top of the car, by mistake, when she was getting ready to leave.

She was very happy for the help, and as I chased papers and saved a few that had already been run over from a second assault, I noticed how few people gave us a second look. Unless you count annoyed looks, the answer is Not Many.

I gave her the papers, mumbled something about her looking like she needed a little help, and was rewarded with a very sweet, spontaneous hug from a complete stranger.

She did not care that I was in my pajamas, she was just glad that someone cared enough to stop and help. I wished her luck and got back into my car and headed home.

On my drive home I realized that I really was glad I had stopped. I felt happy that I had helped. I like to think that maybe she went on help someone she did not know today. I hope she did. Random acts of kindness (RAOK) are like rolling stones, meaning there should be no moss on them, they should keep moving forward.

Have you practiced or experienced a random act of kindness today? I’d love to hear about it.

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• Posted in: blogging ♦ Family ♦ Texas
• Tagged: Family, helping those in need, Home, Not Many, Pajamas, People, Random act of kindness, RAOK, Requesting Help