If you plan them in advance, are they really random? Does that even matter?

A friend of mine clued me in on a terrific nonprofit (full disclosure: she told me about it last DragonCon, and then I was my usual weird, uninterested self until I was suddenly VERY INTERESTED, for reasons I won’t elaborate on right now) that spends its time, effort, and funds in the pursuit of helping people, or just plain being nice to people. A day where you go out and give flowers/candy/balloons to total strangers. Giving a car to a family that could really use it (and I mean really). Buying a little boy a pair of shoes. Kind words, gestures, and expressions of support.

So this weekend I made sure to think of all the things I could do that were kind. I gave an extra two dollars with my tip at the restaurant where we ate lunch. I shared my celebratory spice cupcakes with the aforementioned friend (much to the chagrin of WH, who has quite the sweet tooth). I went to the grocery store and bought veggie burgers because the lone vegetarian at the cookout we were attending only had hummus and chips as her lunch options. Part of me feels like I shouldn’t even be talking about these things, because it doesn’t really matter to anybody else but the people on the receiving end if I do something nice or not.

But maybe somebody else will be inspired. Who knows? It’s worth a shot.

Anyway, that’s not really the big thing.

A coworker and I had been talking about books, and he recommended The India Cookbook as something I might like (anybody who spends more than a half an hour around me will know that I have a deep, abiding love for all things India). And I replied that I had been coveting the book, but that it wasn’t something I was comfortable splurging on. He said he’d lend it to me, and I was happy to be part of that exchange.

Well, this morning, he came into the office, handed it to me, and said, “It’s yours.” I was somewhat flabbergasted, and I think I might have replied with a, “Wait… what?” And he nodded, and said that he’d cooked all the things he wanted to cook, and that he thought I could make good use of it (which is totally true).

And so I suppose that’s why I’m sharing, because it feels really awesome to be on the receiving end of kindness, because it reminds you of why it’s so great to be on the giving end.