My Kind Friend

I aspire to be a kinder person but there some people around me who are the walking model of what it means to be kind from the very inside. If you were to look up "kind" in the dictionary, my friend Sarah  would have her ovely photo there. I feel blessed to be surrounded such a kind person.

My boyfriend and I joke sometimes about what we would do without Sarah in our lives. She's always on her feet thinking about the little things, the details and truly has a heart of gold. At a recent gathering, we realized that we had no candles or couldn't find any candles...but of course, Sarah had brought some! That's just one example of how amazing she is. 

Erik (the boyfriend) has had a broken foot for the past few months and Sarah was so great about reaching out to him while I was away traveling and just checking on him to see if he needed anything.

And then another time, she dropped off some fabulous warm cookies she had just baked.

Everyone needs a Sarah in their life. I feel lucky to have one!

connecting with a compliment

How often do we see something we like, or appreciate, or enjoy, but don't express the sentiment out loud to others?  For me, this answer is "often" and to tell you the truth, I share compliments and comments out loud (and to strangers) A LOT.  Still, there are many occasions that I make a note-to-self and never utter a sound out loud because I feel too weird.  Sometimes that's valid, but probably more than not I should just say it because...

I have two examples to prove how it can make someone's day.

Carter, my husband, took both girls for a stroll in the neighborhood to the cafe for "treats."  He got Lilah a cookie treat.  Carter got a "beer-treat" as Lilah called it when she was reporting on the outing later.  Carter reported that when they were outside at the cafe table, a man who had been sitting next to them, stopped by Carter as he was leaving and said "I really like the way you parent.  You're a good dad."  Oh my god, was Carter on cloud nine the rest of the day or what?  He almost seemed to glow from the inside.  Clearly in this case, it meant more that a stranger said he was a good dad than if I had......

I was the lucky recipient of the next example of kindness.  When I picked Lilah up from day care yesterday, one of the teachers said "in all my training I'm warned of crossing the personal/professional relationship with parents.  I shouldn't do this, but here." and she handed me an envelope with my name on it.  I opened it last night and was buoyed beyond words.  This gal must have heard some of my stressful comments about work because here's the card she gave me:

 

These recent experiences remind me of an Art of Kindness newsletter on sharing spontaneous compliments that I wrote a few years ago...clearly, some things never change.

Live Kindly,

Emma!

wonderful Wednesday walks

It happened again.  And again, I didn't have my camera with me (UGH!!)

Last week I had THE BEST beginning to a day.  My neighbor and friend Hannah joined me as I strolled Lilah to day care.  I had the two kids in the stroller and she had her two NEW 3 month old Japanese Chin puppies!!  It took forever to "walk" the few blocks to day care because the pups were afraid of the stroller and because they were going every-which-way and because we just plain lolly-gagged.

It was fun, though, Lilah was calling the dogs to "come on" as if she was walking them, although she was sitting in the stroller.  Calli also liked the pups and couldn't take her big eyes off of them.

When we got to school, we went in to see if the other kids wanted to come out and say hello to the puppies.  Now things start to get REALLY CUTE.  There were two other boys in Lilah's 2-year-old room at day care that day and one of the boys was in heaven with the puppies crawling all over him.  He was very very good and gentle with the tiny puppies.  When it was time for the kids to go inside, I hear the little boy tell the teacher "I want a doggie."  Uh oh!

So today it happened again.  We hadn't planned to see Hannah, but we ran into her and the pups & the whole ordeal with Lilah playing with the pups and the other kids coming out to see them happened again.  It could happen everyday as far as I'm concerned, that kind of happy-kid-kindness is good for my heart.

Next time, though, I'll have photos!

Live Kindly,

Emma!

helpful idea for new(ish) moms

Hi,

People are so generous with baby clothes, ready-made dinners, and advice (!!) when you bring a new baby home for the first time.

The second time, not so much.

And I have to say, the second time, even MORE than the first time (for me) the ready-made food was such a huge help, because you have a child ready for dinner.  So keeping things as consistent as possible (i.e. not going out to a restaurant or getting take-out every night) is more important than when it's just adults and you cope with whatever.  The families that brought us food when our second daughter was born will be immortalized in my personal "Kindness Hall of Fame" because it was SO HELPFUL and SO THOUGHTFUL.

My friend Emily did another AMAZINGLY thoughtful thing when baby Calli joined us a few months ago.  She brought me a Bob-the-Builder magnetic block set.  Random, I know, but it wasn't actually for me, it was for my 2-year-old.  It was a distraction for when I needed to nurse the baby, fold the laundry, or straighten up (which I was always doing one of those three things!).  It was a very been-there-done-that gift, as if she knew EXACTLY what would help.

So when my friend Katie had baby #3, I paid that brilliance forward.  Here's how Katie felt about it:

Emma, I literally cried when I opened my door this evening.  You have no idea how welcome your surprise was this evening!  My husband has been out of town for 2 weeks...and I was reaching the end of my rope!  Your treats truly buoyed my soul!  Not to mention, made my kids week! They absolutely love the things you sent!  Charlie is sleeping with the hat on and drill in hand and Isabelle has the purse and book in her bed!  And, I just enjoyed the most delicious piece of cake!  I really cannot thank you enough for your thoughtfulness and generosity!  You epitomize kindness!  And, I am so grateful!  Many, many thanks!  Katie

Yay!  Although I've been out of blog-land for months...I haven't lost my touch :)

Live Kindly,

Emma

We are busily working on wonderful new things here at livekindly.org.