Kindness Abounds

If you stop and look for it, you can watch kindness everywhere you turn.

Sometime it makes me catch my breath, it's so wonderful, so powerful, so inspirational.

My sweet big girl has been growing her hair out for years.

Her grandma told her that when she was a young woman her hair was so long she could sit on it.

So, she's been growing and growing her hair.

The trick is that it became so long that she couldn't brush it herself very well.

And our water is so filled with iron that it made just tossing her hair to the side turn into a big tangle.

Not to mention, she's getting old enough that she wants to style her hair and it was just too long to style on her own.

So, she made the decision to cut her hair and donate it to Locks of Love.

And the fantastic Sunrise Hair Design gave her a free haircut for her generous contribution.  Something I didn't know before her appointment.

Here she is carefree, and on top of the world with her little brother with her toasted-marshmallow-colored bouncy hair.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch a friend surprised (a couple of weeks early) for her 40th birthday.  The girls who planned the party pulled out all the stops to make it as spectacular as possible- bringing in a friend from as far away as Colorado.  So much work and love to make someone feel special.  She said it was almost like going to her funeral- seeing all these different people there for her.  I thought it was an incredible showing of the diversity of people she's touched in the short time she's lived here in Olympia.

Another friend hosted a fund raising event for a boy we went to high school with who is battling an aggressive brain cancer, who has a wife and two babies.  Our community has pulled together to try and ease the financial burden of the challenges they face, knowing that the biggest battle isn't one we can help with.

To know that there is such a phenomenal community of people looking out for each other, that they care when someone is facing unimaginable challenges.

I see sweetness, selfless dedication, to try to make things just a little bit easier for someone else.

I find it absolutely inspirational.

There's always something we can do for someone else, if we open our eyes and look- we'll see that kindness blooming all around us.

I hope that I remember to point it out to my kids.

That they grow up knowing that that's just what you do for others.

Help when and however you can and try to love everyone in spite of any shortcomings, because Lord knows we all have them.