A few weeks ago when I was visiting family in Carmel Valley, CA, I saw the coolest thing.

We had pulled into a little store called Hacienda Hay & Feed (don't ask!); Carter was inside paying and I was in the backseat of the car cooing at Lilah in her carseat.  An ivory colored PT Cruiser pulled up next to us, and there was one of those rectangular-magnetic-advertising things on the driver's door.  You'll never believe this (and I wish I had my camera with me to prove it) but printed in big, clear letters was the following message:  Do Random Acts of Kindness.  "Do Random" was on one line, "acts" was in the middle, flanked by a heart and an American flag, and "of Kindness" was on the third line.  That's it, no website, no phone number, no call to action except the obvious.  As a kindness-evangelist, my heart skipped and my eyes twinkled.

As I said I didn't get a photo, but what I'm even more bummed about is not connecting with the driver of that kindness car.  What the heck was I thinking????  A true sign of baby-brain-drain.  If anyone knows how to contact that woman in Carmel Valley, CA, let me know :)

In the meantime, I'm off on a Father's Day hike and anticipate new opportunities for random acts of kindness (I may even have a camera with me to capture them like a grown-up blogger)!

You know how you start to take note of something after you hear it a few times? I'm experiencing that now with the term "strange beauty." A friend of mine has launched a business "handcrafting beautiful things from paper" and her specialty is strange beauty. And then the phrase popped up as I overheard my husband talking about some type of physics theory (??).

Anyway, today I'm created my own definition for this simple oxymoron, as I'm struck by the beauty of strangers.

Culturally, we avoid strangers. They are, well, strange. We don't know them. They may be dangerous. They may take our children or follow us home. It's good to be aware & to be safe, of course. On the flip side, for me, though, I've had some of my sweetest tastes of humanity through interactions with strangers. I can think of many examples...

One example happened on an airplane a year ago. Ironic to this topic, I actually keep pretty much to myself on planes; too many overly-chatty experiences, I think :) However, after a few hours of sitting elbow-to-elbow with the woman next to me, one of us--I can't remember who--engaged the other with a polite, noncommital comment.  VOILA! --an organic, wonderfully natural conversation took root. We stayed in touch after the flight, and are now friends.  Below are some blurbs from emails I have shared with Marla:

Hi Emma, It was a wonderful stroke of luck, sitting next to you on the flight to Minneapolis - or was it Rapid City?? With 5 separate flights in 4 days, I've lost track. I will call my friend at Target, and see what I can find out about getting something in front of their design people. I'll do my best. All the best to you - wishing you a great week.

Hi Marla,

I was just going to share the same "luck-filled" sentiment with you this morning!!!! Indeed, lucky (or fateful) to be sitting next to each other. I so enjoyed hearing about your adventures in life!! You are so inspiring!

I look forward to hearing what your contact at Target can drum up, but if nothing comes of it, that's OK, too. Just don't sweat it; if this is meant to be the direction of my path to Target (to the bull's eye!) it will come naturally enough.....

OK---back to the kindness at hand today! I'll sign you up to me more-or-less monthly email if you'd like, that way you can every so often be reminded of our fabulous connection over a shared mini-bottle of chardonnay.

Hugs, Emma

Months later, when I was a bit pregnant & a little stressed out with "how to get it all done..."

Emma, don’t worry about the time element. I managed to fit in quite a bit as my children were growing up and somehow, it just works. Priorities shift, you get better about managing time because it’s important to you – and while it’s important for a child to be loved, nurtured and given plenty of attention, it’s also very good for them to see that the world does not revolve around them – especially where Mom is concerned. They will be very proud of you because of your accomplishments – well before they’re the age of mine, trust me on that. They notice things growing up and the structure of having to give other people time is good for them. Besides, you wouldn’t be Emma with your wonderful Acts of Kindness if you didn’t do what you love!

Marla is truly a beautiful woman.  She's into dancing, keeping up with her grown sons & her spoiled doggy.  She's getting a masters degree on top of working full time for Florida Blood Services.  In addition to all of this, she manages Kickin' for Kids an organization she started in 1995 to raise money in the fight against pediatric cancer, an illness that took her daughter...  Marla is a wellspring of energy and positivity & I am blessed to have her ongoing advice and friendship.

Conveniently, strangers are all around us.  They are behind us in line, ringing us up at the grocery store, passing us on the street, waiting next to us at baggage claim.  Just offer a smile--it's that easy.  After all, how many of our friends start out as strangers?

I hope in the coming entries I don't wax on too much about my first born, Lilah. This entry starts with Lilah, but goes somewhere completely different and completely unexpected, at least to me.

I was in the process of finding a new gynecologist when I discovered that I was pregnant and I didn't end up finding one I liked until after Lilah's birth. This new gynecologist came highly recommended, but I still wasn't, what you might say "looking forward" to my visit :).

I sat paging through a pregnancy magazine waiting for the doctor. Knock. In comes a stylish--well, glamorous really--Asian doctor. She seemed close to my age (35ish) and had a beautiful electric blue blouse on and uniquely cool, stacked-heel shoes. She asked about Lilah and the delivery. She got all excited about motherhood, so I asked her if she had any children. She said, yes, a 20 year old. Hmmm...I thought, that doesn't make sense. She continued to explain that she adopted a 'child' four years ago. I couldn't believe this stylish doctor had adopted a 16-year old. I was basically in shock as she continued to explain that it was wonderful, now, and that the adoption had been a difficult transition for both her and her daughter, who was African-American. They both had to work hard to get where they are now which she described as a typical mother-daughter relationship with a teenager. She used the example of crying as her daughter graduated, and another of her daughter asking for the credit card to go shopping!

Needless to say, I left that gynecology appointment with a whole new understanding of "motherhood" and the reminder to never judge a book by its cover.