Catching Kindness

Although the weather postponed the Superhero fence painting extravaganza, that does not mean the superheroes have been sitting idle.  Last Wednesday, three Superheroes visited Sharon, whose fence we will stain, and delivered her handmade flowers to say thank you for her patience as we keep our eyes on the weather.  We deviated from our norm; usually we use pipe cleaners for stems but on this day we were able to use twigs from part of my apple tree that has not regrown.  Marquez, Lucero, and Bridget doned capes (Lucero for the first time, and playing the role of our youngest superhero so far) and walked down the street.  We surprised Sharon, arriving an hour earlier than we had thought.  But she was glad to see us still.  "These are the best kind of flowers," she said, "because you don't have to water them and they last forever!"  Sharon knew we were coming (we had called to see that she would be home), and had set out Glacier quarters to give each child.  The children walked away beaming, not expecting to receive their own thank you gift.

We are excited to say it looks like we have an official date.  Next Wednesday, July 6th at 5:30, the superhero children and superhero volunteers will gather to finally stain Sharon's fence.  If you would like to join, just email the superheroes and we will make sure you have the address.

I have been able to follow one Superhero as she caught a case of kindness from a friend and has done her job to spread this contagious need to make others smile.  Recently a Superhero, who we shall call Violet, received a card in the mail.  The card was unexpected, as were the stickers found inside.  Violet grinned the whole day long.  The next morning this random act of kindness was the first thing she talked about.  Violet woke up and reminded me of her mail (what a treat for a young child to receive mail) and then asked if we could give someone flowers.  I expected this young lady to want to take flowers to her friend, Linn, who had sent the card.  But no.  Violet wanted to take flowers to a teacher from her school, "just because."  She just wanted to let this teacher know, "that she is nice and I miss her."  So we loaded up in the jogger and delivered a flower to Gerri.  And the kindness did not stop there.  The next several days were filled with Violet choosing (on her own) someone she wanted to make smile.  A picture for Grandma.  A note for Grandpa.  A call to Aunt Katie "because she will be so surprised to hear my voice and she will smile, mama."  In fact, we have three cards to mail today that have been made especially for some friends from school.  It really seems as if she cannot stop, and it all started from someone mailing a card to let this little one know someone was thinking of her.  My favorite was at the grocery store last weekend, when Violet looked up at the woman helping bag our groceries and said, "Wow, you are just so beautiful."  I watched that woman just glow, knowing her day was just made infinitely better.  Maybe even her week.  Seeing the power of saying something you are thinking or feeling, feeling a little unsure of saying it but knowing deep down it will make the other person smile.    

Watching Violet so happily perform these acts of kindness, some small and some not so small, and watching them ripple over a distance farther than my eye can see, has made me take a deeper look into my day.  What can I do in this moment to make someone around me smile?  Hmmm, I think I will go answer that right now.