I stumbled across the site 29 Days of Giving and as I was reading the stories about how giving could change your life and make you think about others instead of yourself. I decided that I’d participate and reflect on whether or not the 29 Days of giving changed my life. My list of 29 gifts is below and I’ll write a seperate post to about the impact the 29 Days of Giving had on my life.
- Day 1 (10/4)–I made homemade beef stew and homemade chicken soup and boxed some of it up for my son Sean to take back to college with him. It made me feel good to know that even though he’s away at school, he would still be enjoying Mom’s home cooking.
- Day 2 (10/5)–As I was getting into the elevator this morning, another lady got on with a beautiful green and blue blouse on. I complimented her on her blouse and although she did the typical, “This old thing” denial, I could tell she was pleased by the compliment as she got off the elevator with a smile on her face.
- Day 3 (10/6)–It is three days before payday and hubby is out of cigarettes. I scrounged up (okay) borrowed some money and went out and got him cigarettes. I’m not sure this really counts as a good deed or not as smoking isn’t good for him, but it was something that he wanted and I went and took care of it for him. I also got the dog ice cream on my way back.
- Day 4 (10/7)–I took my dog for a walk today. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but although my dog loves to walk, he is the worst walker in the world and it is a huge chore to walk with him. I know that the more time I spend walking with him the better, but it feels like a battle royal every time I take him. It was worth it to see how happy he gets.
- Day 5 (10/8)–My son came home from college (downtown Chicago) to get some books and I drove him back to school rather than make him take the train. It was actually nice as we got a chance to talk about life, school, and a bunch of other things.
- Day 6 (10/9)–I bought cinnamon bread at the bakery my daughter works at and took it in for the folks at work. This was a twofer as I was helping out a local business that has been very good to my daughter and I was making the people at work happy.
Day 8 (10/10)–Caitlin is a very independent young lady and since she has gotten a job, she’s been very good about paying for her own extras like haircuts, dances, etc. Her homecoming dance was this weekend and decided to treat her to a haircut and to the ticket to the dance. It felt good to know that she was going to have a little extra money to spend on something else she wanted and I made sure she knew that I did appreciate her taking care of the little things.
- Day 9 (10/11)–I gave myself the gift of reading brain candy for a few hours. I’ve been working really hard at getting my book put together, my site set up, and everything else so I decided to take a few hours off and escape to another reality.
- Day 10 (10/12)–I took time to help out a coworker who was trying to dial into a remote training session. It wasn’t my training session, but since I was at HQ and she was in Chattanooga, I was able to get to someone who could help her.
- Day 11 (10/13)–I held the door for a lady who was maneuvering a big stroller out a small door. That’s a really little thing, but I know from when I had kids that it is a little thing that can mean a whole lot.
- Day 12 (10/14)–I wrote a blog entry about what a great mom my mother was and took the time to dig through our photo albums to find photos of her pre-child so that she knew I recognized her as a person and not just an extension of her family.
- Day 13 (10/15)–I blogged about ways to save the planet and how my family and I are green. This is a way to share my knowledge with other people and hopefully will inspire other people to do their part to save our world.
- Day 14 (10/16)–A friend of mine asked me to do some shopping at our corporate merchandise sale today so I took care of getting her things and getting them shipped to her.
- Day 15 (10/17) –I let a lady go in front of me at the dollar store She walked up and had her arms full of goodies. I know what it’s like to go to the store for one or two things and end up walking out with an armful of stuff. She was genuily appreciative and thanked me several times.
- Day 16 (10/18)–I let the dog eat the leftover roast beef. He’d been so patient waiting for us to eat it and sniffing around that I decided he deserved a treat so I gave him what was left of the meat and potatoes. I also took myself and the dog for a walk tonight even though I was exhausted and really just wanted to go to sleep.
- Day 17 (10/19)–I bought Cat coffee and a breakfast sandwich this morning even though I’m broke until payday AND she hasn’t cleaned the upstairs hallway like I’ve been asking (read begging) her to for weeks. I was rewarded by a candid conversation about lies one of her “friends” has been telling her.
- Day 18 (10/20)–I went to the chiropractor and got my back cracked and my muscles massaged. I’m trying very hard to get in shape and to actually take care of my body. This one counts as something I did for me.
- Day 19 (10/21)– One of my best friends is going through some tough times and I spent some time writing a blog entry about how much he means to me and how much he’s helped me through the years.
- Day 20 (10/22)–I pulled together training for one of my friends because he was scrambling to get it done in time to meet his deadline and he didn’t have anyone to do it. I spent a couple of hours doing the research and developing the training for him. I also did some dat a dumps from SAP to facilitate a project he was working on.
- Day 21 (10/23)– I found this really cool recipe to make Batman Soap online and I made Batman soap for my Batfiend and, as a bonus, I made my mother some really awesome body butter.
- Day 22 (10/24)–Someone I knew was in the line at the grocery store and didn’t have enough to cover her charges so I rushed forward, whipped out my ATM card, and felt like Wonder Woman as I rescued her. She offered to pay me back, but I turned her down because the awesome feeling I got from helping her out felt way better than getting my money back.
- Day 23 (10/25)–I let Caitlin drive home from work. She just got her learner’s permit and she hasn’t yet driven with her instructor yet, so I’m still nervous about letting her drive. However, today I took the plunge and let her drive. She did very well and I’m sure that as she gets more confident she will do even better.
- Day 24 (10/26)–I took John to the doctor this afternoon and filled all the forms out for him because he hurt his left hand so he couldn’t write.
Day 25 (10/27)–I took Luke for a walk tonight. It is amazing how much he loves to go for a walk and how excited he gets by the simple things in life.- Day 26 (10/28)–I went to my chiropractor tonight and let myself relax and enjoy the manipulation and the heat that went on my back. It felt really good to just lay there and let the heat and stim do their job on my back. This was a way of giving back something good to myself. When i as at the chiropractor’s, I noticed that one of the nurses had on a beautiful set of scrubs with lace embroidery on them. As we talked, she said that she’d bought the one set and hadn’t been able to find another pair. Someone suggested looking on line and she said she hadn’t had time. I took the time to search online and send her some links as to where she might be able to find them online.
Day 27 (10/29)–I went out with some people from work tonight and when I was done, I came home and made Jambalaya for our food fest tomorrow. This was an act of giving of myself to those I work with as I thought about how nice it would be to build a sense of community with my team mates.- Day 28 (10/30)–Every Halloween my family reads the “Dead List” to pay tribute to those who have gone before. Part of our tradition is remembering people from the past who have influenced us or touched our lives in some way. The people we remember are often people who had no voice when they were alive and who were the victims of genocide, violence, or intolerance. By remembering them, we remember their lives and pay tribute to their sacrifice. We also teach each other a lesson by promising to do what we can to stop intolerance and violence in our world.
- Day 29 (10/31)–The last day was the absolute easiest of the giving challenge because it was Halloween so we were giving out candy to children all evening long.
Cairn by Cairn 