This year I really wanted to do something a little different to celebrate my birthday. Not only was it a big one for me, but it was right before Thanksgiving, so in the spirit of giving I thought it would be appropriate to give back! I was initially inspired by how my good friend, Cheyenne, celebrated her 31st birthday.

The day before my group of friends and I headed to the beach I loaded up on various goodies (i.e. jelly belly’s, snickers bars, orbit gum, etc.) and taped a note I wrote to each one. I also purchased several Starbucks gift cards and attached the note. Saturday morning I shared with my friends how I wanted to celebrate and handed them each a bag with 4 quarters to give out as we headed out to Broadway at the Beach with our big bag of goodies! We had a blast giving out candy and filling fish food machines with quarters! Some of the best reactions were from handing out the Starbucks gift cards!

Pretty much everyone was receptive to us. A few were confused and one turned down a Snickers bar….can’t please everyone I suppose! 🙂 My favorite reaction was a little girl who wanted to feed the fish so bad but no one in her group had any quarters. I happened to walk right through as she dropped her head in disappointment after her father told her he didn’t have any money. I was holding Dyce but was able to shift him so I could reach in my pocket and get my bag of quarters. You would have thought she won the lottery after I handed her the bag!

It’s the little things.

At the bottom of the notes I had put an email address. I wasn’t really expecting to hear from anyone, but it made my day when I got this email late Sunday night…..

Dear thefortunateplight@gmail.com

Your random act of kindness touched me beyond measure! It was so nice to be the recipient of this Starbucks gift card while walking from the bitter cold to where else, but Starbucks at Broadway at the Beach to get a hot chocolate. Thank you for that!

I was eager to help you celebrate your birthday wish…so when one of the performers (aka…Santa Claus) asked if their grandparent could hang around with us because she was all alone. Not only was your generosity paid forward, but a new friend was made as well! Here’s to sharing hot chocolates and warm blankets!

Great start to the Thanksgiving and Christmas Season!!!

Happy 30th Birthday and may many blessings abound you.

Last night (my actual birthday) I was driving home from a late meeting at work. When I pulled onto my road I saw that one of my neighbors trashcans had tipped over and trash was all in the middle of the street. One of the bags had opened and loose trash was starting to litter their lawn. I’m not going to lie, at first I drove past thinking how late it was and I was tired, cold and hungry, but then I thought about this sweet woman’s email and how important it is to practice what you preach. I put my car in reverse and there I was in the middle of the night picking up bags of trash in the middle of the road and realizing that sometimes you have to make a conscious effort to pay it forward.

This week let’s make a conscious effort to be better, kinder and more generous people. I truly believe only great things can come of it.

xo,

1 Comment

Cheyenne Schultz on November 20, 2012 at 5:06 pm

this is so awesome, jenn! I love it!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

say thanks | Sunny Slide Up - [...] Do a good deed for someone. Pass along the gift of giving. (See Jenn’s Post) [...]
sunny slide up’s top 12 for 2012 | Sunny Slide Up - [...] 7. feed the fish [...]