This week my kindness journey took a strange twist that I felt I needed to share with you, my readers.  For the past 45 years (my whole life) I have avoided donating blood🩸.  I don’t know what it is exactly that intimidates me about the act of blood 🩸donation, but I have always avoided it.   Needles💉 don’t necessarily bother me, I have had multiple IV’s in my life and I have several tattoos.  I take pride in myself for having a fairly high pain tolerance.  Maybe it is just a fear of the unknown. 

After seeing so many advertisements about the drop in blood 🩸donations due to the Covid-19 crisis I decided to make my very first blood 🩸donation appointment for Saturday, April 18, 2020.  A good friend offered to drive me because we weren’t sure how my body would react to the blood 🩸donation and he knew I was nervous about the process.  Once we arrived, we were informed that he had to wait in the car🚗, and I was alone without my cheerleader📣.  

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t normally need a cheerleader📣 to try new things, but this time I really needed one.  I started the check in process, I had answered the long questionnaire on line before arriving so that things could go smoothly.  Or so I thought! The check in nurse👩‍⚕️ took my vitals (temperature and blood pressure).  She informed me that my heart rate ❤was too high, and I would need to sit quietly for 10 minutes before being rechecked.  After the first 10 minutes was over, she rechecked me and my heart rate ❤was still too high.  The nurse 👩‍⚕️ explained that she knew I was nervous and that she would call their doctor🩺 to get permission to proceed.  The doctor 🩺advised her to have me sit for another 10 minutes and drink a full bottle of cold water, if my heart rate❤ did not fall into normal range, I would be deferred from donating blood🩸 that day. 

After the second 10 minutes and a whole bottle of cold water, my heart rate ❤was still high, and I wasn’t allowed to donate blood🩸.  The nurse👩‍⚕️ was very nice and explained what would happened next in the process had I been allowed to continue.  She even pricked my finger and checked my hemoglobin to evaluate if it fell in the normal range.  It was normal, so had I not been so nervous I would have been allowed to donate. 

I cannot even explain how disappointed I was to not be able to participate in this simple act of blood 🩸 donation.  I was disappointed in my body for letting me down, I was disappointed in myself for waiting so long to get up the courage to try to donate blood🩸.  Most of all I was disappointed that I let down some one who might have a need for a pint of blood🩸 that I could have provided.  This won’t discourage me though, I will try again and hopefully next time I will be able to do my part. 

Until next time, my friends!

K.

What better place to social distance than at a cemetery?   It’s not like the residents are going to bother you…. too much.   In my town there is the Springdale Cemetery, a very large historic cemetery.  http://springdalecemetery.com/   There are parts of this cemetery that have been neglected, eroded and vandalized.  This week seemed the perfect time to head out to Springdale and mingle with the spirits 👻 as we cleaned garbage and leaves🍁 from a small portion of the cemetery. 

We started with plots that were known to us and visited often, just to make sure our loved ones were in good shape, then we located a small forgotten area that hadn’t seen a rake or garbage bag in quite a while.  As the earth🌎 was able to breathe again after the dead leaves 🍁were removed, an overwhelming scent of onion 🧅 wafted through the air!   Wild onions 🧅 were growing all over the plot of land in the cemetery that we were tending. 

We were able to gather one very large bag of garbage and several lawn bags of leaves 🍁, sticks and foliage which we redistributed as mulch and fill in a gully behind a heavily eroded area of the cemetery.  It is always very sobering to see head stones tipped over from vandalism and erosion, or headstones sliding down hill sides because they have washed away over the years. 

This won’t be the last time we will give parts of old Springdale Cemetery attention, more work days will happen in the future. 

Have a Great Week!

K

As the weeks go by during this unprecedented time of social distancing, we are constantly reminded that we must stay away from others to keep the most vulnerable safe in our communities.  How do we do that yet remain kind to others and help those that need help?  I ask myself this question daily as I go about my daily life. 

              For example, early last week, I was at the grocery store and a had an elderly lady in front of me in line at the cash register.  She was struggling as she loaded her small amount of groceries onto the conveyor belt.  This lovely lady had some sort of disability that obstructed her mobility and motor skills and she was alone.  As she struggled to load her groceries onto the belt and pull her cash out of her wallet to pay, I kept thinking to myself, I need to help make this moment easier for her.  How do I do that without invading her “social distancing space”? 

              Luckily my husband was with me that day to deal with our groceries.  I was able to get this woman’s attention and asked her if she would give me the honor of helping her get her groceries loaded into her car.  This lovely woman refused my offer but thanked me profusely and she went slowly on her way.  We continued to check out with our needed allotment of groceries and headed out to the parking lot. 

              To my surprise, the lovely stranger was still at her car, that was parked up front in handicapped parking.  She was standing at the back door of the vehicle with the door wide open looking inside, at the back seat.  I had my husband go to our car with groceries, while I approached her again and asked her one more time if I could please help her load her groceries into her car.  She was so sweet, and this time she allowed me to help her. 

              She explained to me that a few years ago she started having seizures and a stroke which left her partially paralyzed on her left side.  She said she had been an emergency room nurse for over 30 years and thought that working on her feet all those years may have contributed to her seizures.  I so badly want to give this sweet, courageous woman a hug but knew, for her sake, that I shouldn’t.   I thanked her several times for her service to the health care industry and for helping people.  I bid her farewell as I took her grocery cart to the cart corral. 

              Ever since that day, I have struggled with the notion that certain acts of kindness may have to end because of fear.  I was almost too afraid to offer my services because I didn’t want to inadvertently cause this beautiful woman harm.  Yet how do I, as a human being, stand back and watch another human being struggle when I know I can help?   That moment affected me deeply and continues to do so as I navigate through what this “new normal” means to me. 

Be Well My Friends!

K

              It is human nature for people to have physical contact with others.  For the last three weeks we have been asked to stay away from that human contact, 6 feet at least.  My nineteen year old daughter, who lives at home, has hugged me more in the last three weeks then she did her whole 4 years of high school.  As these social distancing guidelines have been put in place, it has become increasingly more challenging to perform kind acts to brighten others’ lives.

              I took a look around my community and saw families placing cut out construction paper hearts❤ in the windows of their homes to share love with their neighbors.  Why couldn’t I share that love directly with strangers and still social distance to keep people safe. 

              I decided to cut out 20 construction paper hearts ❤ and searched on line for inspirational quotes to write on the hearts❤.  I then took a drive to my favorite hiking trails, grocery stores and home stores.  As I perused the parking lots of each of these places, I randomly chose cars🚗 to place my inspirational hearts ❤under those cars’🚗 windshield wipers.  One woman was getting out of her car🚗 and I asked her if she would like a piece of my heart❤.  She got a huge smile on her face as I handed her my cut out construction heart❤, all while practicing social distancing, and she thanked me for making her day. 

              I also had another woman refuse my construction paper heart❤, but I didn’t take that personally.  I know people are scared, they are afraid of what and who may carry the virus.  I would never blame anyone for refusing my construction heart❤ at time like this.   I offered her a smile, happy well wishes and went on my way. 

              While we continue to navigate through these trying times, it is so important that we keep our spirits lifted and reduce anxiety the best ways we can with our limited capabilities.   Although I may not have seen the reactions of those, I left the constructions hearts for, if I uplifted the spirits of one person my mission was complete. 

Have a great week my friends!

Stay well!

Love to all❤

K

Hi All,

As we are all struggling with social distancing during this global pandemic, I am trying to find ways to feed my heart ❤ and soul while trying to feed the hearts❤ and souls of my neighbors.  Last week, I spread some joy by handing out flowers🌹 to random people on the street along with a smile and a pleasant word.  I also baked cookies🍪 for some neighbors and shared love through my favorite past time of baking. 

While the “stay at home” orders continue to get extended, it has become increasingly more difficult to spread kindness to others.  Grand gestures of expression will have to be done from over 6 feet away from others.  Kindness may come more in the form of a smile 😁 through a closed window or a quick conversation in passing while keeping our distance. 

Today, as the weather broke and the sun🌞 started to shine, I decided it was time to do some service while enjoying the fresh air.  So, I took a few of the little people that I am semi-quarantining with, and we picked up trash in our community.  Its amazing how quickly we filled up a few trash bags while walking the neighborhood.  The kids gained some perspective on how much trash is out there and how it affects the environment. 

This project was two fold for me. The little people in our lives are the future leaders of our world🌍. They are the ones that will inherit the health of the planet🌎. I wanted my little ones to see that the relatively small actions we take today, may make a big difference tomorrow. I also needed to get outside of the house 🏠 for a little bit and so did the kids.

I hope you all have a great week!

Stay tuned for hopefully a fun act of kindness, my imagination is running wild… 🤔

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Sometimes we are thrown into extraordinary circumstances where tough decisions have to be made and a person must dig deep into themselves to figure out what they are made of. I live in Central Illinois, and a week ago the Governor requested that we self quarantine to protect ourselves and our families to avoid contracting and spreading the COVID-19 virus. Yesterday, the Governor issued a mandatory Stay At Home order starting at 5 pm tonight.

With that deadline looming, there was a strong need to get out of the house for a few hours, to do something for others and put a smile on some strangers faces. So that is what happened, we (my best friend Dave, my daughter Alexa and I) piled into Dave’s mini van and made our way to the grocery store. After the purchase of two dozen roses 🌹 we made our way out of the crazy busy store, once in the parking lot we immediately noticed an older woman wandering aimlessly in the parking lot looking for her car. Dave and I approached the woman being mindful of our “social distance” and offered to help her locate her car. The poor woman was so flustered, but never fear, we quickly located her vehicle and I offered her one of my roses 🌹 to make her feel better…. She thanked me with a bright smile 😍 and we were off to our next stop…..

Our favorite coffee shop is locally owned. We stopped in and grabbed our coffees☕ to go, giving each of our favorite baristas a rose 🌹 and our well wishes. To our surprise, the owners were there and they too were each given a rose 🌹 along with a pep talk letting them know that we would not forget about them during the next few weeks. Our next stop was an old cemetery we enjoy visiting in our town. A rose was laid at each grave site of significance to us with bright energy🌈 sent to those we missed and loved.

We had three roses 🌹 left, unsure of what to do with them, we decided to drive to our favorite outside strip mall. We quickly noticed a favorite local restaurant had plywood covering one of their large windows and two employees were walking out of the restaurant. We pulled in and I jumped out of the van with two of the roses🌹 in my hand, I handed both employees a rose🌹 and they thanked me with bright smiles😍 saying that someone had shot their window out with a BB gun the night before. We wished them well and were on our way to find our last “victim”. After much searching we located a sweet woman walking out of my favorite fabric store. We stopped and I again jumped out of the van asking her if should would like a rose🌹, and I was once again gifted with the brightest smile😍 I had ever seen.

Our mission was a success! We were gifted with so many smiles😍 and warm wishes today! I wish I would have taken some pictures. The one major thing I learned during our adventure was that no matter what is going on the world, every one needs a little kindness in their lives. We are all in this quarantine together and we will all survive this together, but only TOGETHER!

I LOVE YOU ALL

GOODNIGHT!

K