Happy Birthday Project

I am so far behind in all of my blogging efforts, but not for lack of preparation.  It's for lack of patience when it comes to this horribly slow laptop.  (Our main one putzed out, so I'm down to the backup.  Or the tablet, which I would rather lick clean that type out an entire post on it's touch-screen keypad.)

In short, work is fabulous, exhausting and rewarding.  The kids are insane, and I feel sorry for anyone who has to see us out.  We are our own little circus.  One might think it drives me nuts...it doesn't.  I like the chaos, and though I must say, "IF I HAVE TO TELL YOU ONE MORE TIME..."  at the top of my lungs 17 times a day, I try to tell myself that this, too, shall pass and one day, these days will be the easy ones.  At least nobody can call me lazy.  Crazy, yes.  Lazy, no. 

The most interesting thing that I have going on at the moment is my birthday project.  A week ago today, I turned 32.  As it goes, 32 feels just like 31, which felt like 28, which felt like 25...you get the picture.  I'd like to think that I am still younger than I am, but I am not.  Not that I try to hide my age (obviously), I just don't feel like I am aging.  (Well, unless I try to drink more than 2-3 glasses of wine at a time.  Then, I feel every day of 32.  Every single day...and then some.)  Back to my birthday, though.  My sister planned a lovely little outing at a cool little bar for me.  It was absolutely fabulous to see so many of our friends out...and late, too, for a school night.  (75% of the attendees were RN's.  Thank goodness for alternative schedules.)  Adam got my a lovely hydrangea plant (which I have already killed.  My thumb is black), and took me out for a sushi FEAST.  It was gluttonous...and fabulous.  He planned a date night for us in the near future...plans to be disclosed later.  It was all that I wanted for my birthday.  It was perfect.

As birthdays go, I started to reflect on the past year, on how enormously blessed I am, on how hard we have been working, on how much things have changed in the last year, on how grateful I am for everything.  Every. Thing.  So, how does one give back to spread some of the goodness bestowed on her?  She performs one acts of kindness (random or otherwise) for each year of her birth.  Thirty-two acts of kindness...which takes much longer than one day to complete.  So, right now, we are still somewhere at the beginning.  To date, my acts of kindness include:

1.) Delivered cookies to a firehouse and thank the fireman for all that they do.  (This was ultimately disappointing, which I hate to admit.  I took the boys with me because I thought it would be cool for them to see.  It wasn't.  It was a quick drop-off, a quick thank-you, a quick once-over of the sparkly trucks, and a couple of souvenir helmets.  Well, that doesn't sound like it would be disappointing, but I got the feeling we were an annoyance more than anything.  Eh.  You can't win them all.)

2.) Left a hand-written note for a deserving neighbor.

3.) Sent a card to a friend in need.

4.) Stopped in the rain to help a woman who had dropped her belongings and had a child in each arm and one in a stroller. 

5.) Returned the shopping carts in a parking lot to the cart corral.

6.) Left an anonymous note of thanks for someone great.

7.) Donated coloring books, play-doh, crayons, books, and puzzles to the children's hospital.

8.) Told someone I just met how they had inspired me.

9.) Told the kids how proud I was to be their mother.

10.) Put coins in a meter that had run out.

11.) Left a large tip for a deserving server.

12.) Complimented management on a job well done.

13.) Did not throw my shoe at the crazy neighbor who shouted, "Oh, Catie!  I am so sorry to hear you had another boy!" over the back fence yesterday.  (Fine, that doesn't count.  But it should.  By not giving her an obscene gesture, at the very least, I did her a favor.)

Eesh.  I feel like I was further than this!  I guess I need to work on it.  Shoot.  This is going to take me weeks, but it's a work in progress.  And I'll update that progress as I go.  Assuming, that is, that I somehow find the patience to deal with this laptop long enough to keep up with my blog postings. Does practicing patience count as an act of kindness?  It should.  That would at least bring me one step closer to that elusive 32...