Acts of Random Kindness

I read something recently that said if you did acts of random kindness on a regular basis, you will have a physiological change in your brain that makes you happier and less stressed. It's amazing, yet seems so simple. If everyone were nicer to each other, everyone would be happier.

A few days ago, we got a letter in the mail. It was addressed to an Eileen, whom we did not know. However, the address seemed to be our house. My mom mentions that perhaps the lady who used to live at our house over 20 some odd years ago was named Eileen. I figured if that were true, then maybe we can open up the envelope to see if we could figure out how to get it to the right place. I wanted to steam it open, but I was told to just open it.

Upon opening it, I find a birthday card for a sister, with some money tucked into it. The wave of guilt immediately washed over me. I look at the return address label, and used the name and address to look up the lady that sent it. Turns out, it was a 96 year old lady. That guilt just turned into a tsunami.

But in this hyperconnected day in age, I knew just what to do. Since I already had more information than I needed, I was able to look up the lady's phone number. I gave her a call, and she was a very sweet lady. I explained what happened, and she went to look up the actual address. Turns out, instead of a 0, it was supposed to be a 5. The elderly lady did write a 5, but it was written in such a way that it really looked like a 0. She asked for my name, and thanked me, and was chuckling for the better part of the call. I suppose a part of me wanted to call her also to just have a nice chat with her. I then promptly walked the birthday card over. The sister's husband answered and was also incredibly grateful. I asked him to wish his wife a happy birthday.

This all took maybe 15 minutes. 15 minutes, and I got to make 4 (including me) people incredibly happy. It's a good feeling.