A Season of Good Deeds
Have you heard the old adage that kindness is a boomerang? You give it away and it keeps flying back your direction. For example, when a friend had a shipment of baskets at work that were leftover from a project, he called. Could I use them at work for my upcoming charity auction? Could I use them at all?
Could I.
Again, this progression from an anti-PTA, never-going-to-be-domestic, raging femmebot to my current Country Living-subscribing, bread-baking, nesting-self surprises me daily. My tastes and interests are so radically different than they were 10 years ago when I was hell-bent on being a corporate executive who lived in the glitz and glam of a huge international city. I would laugh and roll my eyes at my mom when she talked about what she was cooking, sewing, doing at church. My edges are definitely softening. I love these baskets, and not just because they came as a thoughtful gift. They are sweet shabby chic and oh my God a bit of the radical feminist in me just died by saying I wish I had more.
There is so much potential with a stack of baskets and a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon, especially when your cute neighbor is at the gym and his backyard gate is left unlocked. He won’t notice if I pick a few dozen lemons off that burdened tree, will he? I didn’t think so.
Especially when you wave a new shiny (read: chocolate) object to redirect his attention.
CAOK is off to a great start. I created that photo pool over at flickr so everyone could share ideas on how to harvest and distribute great acts of kindness during Lent. Then I read this verse and felt like a braggart. Yuck. I hope my intention is clear: I love CAOK because it gives me a chance to spoil others and do so abundantly. This isn’t a praise-seeking mission.
This week’s CAOK idea: correspondence. It’s Valentine’s week and what better chance to sit down and write a quick note to those you love? I’ve got a stack going out today and am writing a couple rough draft letters to my grandparents. They are getting up there in age and I’d like to let them know how they’ve influenced my life, made me better, shown me kindness and created happiness. They’ve taught me so much. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of letter, but I hope to mail it off to each set of lovely abuelitos this week. Yep, I’m a sentimental femmebot.
Here is wishing you receive a bounty of love this week too!
~K
- Posted in Domestic Art, CAOK, Correspondence
- Permalink
that is making me laugh. ten years ago i was the polar opposite of who i am now! i swore to never be a stay at home mom. maybe one kid, but i would always work. ha! god knows better huh?!
February 11th, 2008 at 9:05 amI was going to be a journalist and live in Europe– maybe get married sometime after age 30, definitely not before.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:22 amHA!
I don’t think anyone would see CAOK as a praise-seeking project. I for one, love seeing other peoples ideas and how they spoiled others. It’s fun and it’s encouraging.
(Spreads a little sunshine, just like those lemons.)
Your grandparents will treasure their letters, I’m sure. You are spurring me on to get a few Valentines sent out. (between lamb feedings, that is)
ps. I love me a cute basket, too
Isn’t it funny how we change and grow and we learn what’s important and what makes us happy? I too am a feminist who now embraces my creative/domestic side. Thanks for all you do to spread cheer around the world.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:27 ami wanted to be absolutely hugely famous at this point. feh! now i want to sew.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:37 ami’ve been working on this week’s caok without knowing it.. i’m taking my gm-in-law’s saved cards form the 50’s and turning them into valentines. i will try to brave flickr & post there
not that i know you or anything, but trumpeting your good acts for praise would be the last thing i’d suspect from you. i gotta admit i’m a disgruntled roman catholic… sort of heard all the meaner sides of the bible growing up… wish we had a church like yours around.
I always wanted to be a Mom. Lucky for me that’s working out pretty well!
February 11th, 2008 at 9:48 ambaaa ha, I’m exactly where I wanted to be ten years ago…
married ten years
a boy and a girl
a dog
a hobby
couldn’t have worked out better if I’d planned it out meticulously
Oh. and, yes…he IS cute
baa ha ha.
and of COURSE we all know you are inentions..it’s why we love you so
February 11th, 2008 at 10:45 amHa! I would never have guessed you were a “femmebot”, great word. I think I need a little *more* femmebot-ness in my life. Thanks for the inspiration on the grandparent’s letter…I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. I’ve also been meaning to write one to my step-dad (he and my mom have been divorced now for many years) who I haven’t spoken with in years. It keeps popping into my head and then i don’t do it because I feel…shy, or the words don’t come readily, or some such. Do you get this problem?
February 11th, 2008 at 10:47 amHa! I had the same reaction to that verse, that sort of mildly horrified, Wait, am I doing that? Oh no! But I always see your campaign as more of an idea-sharing pool than “here’s how you can be awesome…like me”.
I love it!
Correspondence is a perfect theme for the week. I was just talking to myself about that on the drive home this morning; now I just need to get it together and put pen to paper!
February 11th, 2008 at 11:26 amSo every once in awhile I start to feel old. Like when everybody in my freshmen college classes is five (5) years younger than I am. And they have no idea who the A-Team is or what it means to “come home when the street lights go on”. Or when my sister thought that The Cure covered 311’s Love Song.
Then I am charged to think back to what my life’s goals were ten (10) years ago, and remember that I was thirteen (13). I don’t feel so old right now.
In any case, I am happy to say that I will be a participant in CAOK this week. Letters to my grandparents and friends across the country. Happy Writing!
February 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pmlol @ you baking brownies to hide the fact you stole the lemons! NICE BASKETS
February 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm:) Steeling lemmons for chocolate cake doesn’t count as a sin, right? you did give back some cake, right?
February 11th, 2008 at 2:48 pmhahahah
you should come over, we are having the chocolate festival here:)in this lovely medieval village named obidos!
I used to do that with my gramma. I’d type her letters at work and use a BIG font on my computer so she could read them easier…..
February 11th, 2008 at 3:41 pmWhat a wonderful blessing you were given with all the baskets. By the way, liberating lemons is healthy for the tree so look at it as a CAOK effort.
Speaking of CAOK, I don’t have pictures of most of the things I do. Some things can’t be photographed but I do want you to know that I work very hard to extend acts of kindness to others as often as possible. I shall, however, enjoy and learn from the photos being posted.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:00 pmI don’t think sharing the spirit of giving is bragging. Here is my favorite passage from Matthew: The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”
COAK seems to fit this bill very nicely.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:31 pmI’d love to hear more about the charity auction.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:57 pmGood morning. It’s your #1 fan over here =] First, I cannot, absolutely CANNOT picture ‘the old Kelli’. I can’t even imagine it (and I mean that in a kind and loving way).
And secondly, I am working up a ‘pay it forward’ in regards to my recent visit from my CAOK angel.
Jordan and I send you big warm hugs and Jordan sends a few sloppy smooches on the cheek.
February 12th, 2008 at 5:11 amXOXO
Mmmm… brownies.
I have CAOK things up my sleeve, but I’ve been temporarily re-directed as caregiver, so my calculations for this week have changed.
Hope your week is going well. All your food pics are making me HUNGRY.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:19 amDid you know that Maimonidies ranked eight ways of giving charity (tzedakah)? http://judaism.about.com/od/beliefs/a/charity_nine.htm
I’m older than you but I too imagined myself in suits, some sort of high-powered business chick, never getting married or having kids. Now I’m a semi-crunchy granola mom who loves crafty things and cooking. Dude, how did that happen?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:14 amLove those baskets, and also, I hear you on the complete shift from 10 years ago, when I was finishing up my two bachelor’s degrees and starting law school; now I live in rural southern Italy, relishing my work-from-home writing time while my OH raises rabbits and chickens. Alrighty then
February 13th, 2008 at 4:55 am[…] Remember those lemons I “borrowed” from my neighbor John? This weekend while working on my pie I noticed a few annoying black bugs flying around. I took out the trash and recycling, emptied the garbage disposal, ran the dishwasher and still, bzzz… the tiny gnats continued to annoy me. Then I looked at the basket and realized I had way over-estimated my lemon needs. The bottom layer of lemons hidden from sight looked like a scene from Marie Curie’s laboratory gone awry. I washed those that weren’t moldy, threw the basket liner in the washing machine and pulled out my hand-juicer and cutting board. (What I should have done was make a lemon pie.) Twenty minutes later, I’ve got fresh lemon juice for the rest of the year’s recipes. Viola. […]
February 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm