Days 3 , 4 and 5 of Giving

        I have to be honest and say that this is not quite as easy as I thought it would be but it is making me think and reflect on things that I do throughout the day. I went to sleep on Thursday trying to think of what I would do on Friday. I knew that I was going to have a crazy busy day and I knew if I did not have a plan then I would not get my good deed done. I decided that I needed to get gift cards for my children's swim coaches. I had been meaning to get them gifts for Christmas and I forgot and I kept saying that I would do it. I even told the kids I would do it and the days flew by and I did not get it done. You know what they say about good intentions and I was on that path with the coahes' gifts. I think it is important to remember that we don't really get credit for thinking about the nice things that we will do.....we get credit for what we do. I was able to get the gift cards (and got triple reward Kroger points for the money spent....a nice bonus) and Maggie and Trey wrote very nice notes on the gift cards. The kids were thrilled to give the gift cards and the coaches were tickled to get them.
            It was a good thing to do and it reminds me that I need to do it more because coaches are critical in our children's lives. They mentor and teach so many things to our kids that they do not learn from other places. They teach the value of hard work and they develop a child's self esteem. Many times that coach is the one that is there to hear your child's problems because they need advice and may not want to ask mom or dad right away. They ask your kids to push themselves and praise them for their success and give feedback on their performance. They change lives and they do not get rich doing it. My swim coaches got me through some tough times, they listened when I cried, made me believe in myself and pushed me to levels I could not have achieved on my own. My children's coaches are doing the same thing for them so a gift card is not really enough but it is a token that says....thanks for all you do, I see it and my kids are growing under your guidance.
          My 4th day of giving is a little more subtle and may come across as last minute but it came to me when as I was panicking at bed time. I ran a half marathon in the morning and I kept thinking that I would see someone out on the race course that needed some help or that I could do a good deed at the end of the race but nothing really fell into my lap and at the end of the race I was cold and not feeling very giving. Then on the drive home from the race I got a call saying that some of the students from my high school had been in a car accident. One student had died and the driver was being charged with DUI and vehicular manslaughter. My heart just broke for the students and their families. I wanted to call all of my cadets and say.....see this is why you have to be safe and make good choices. I received text messages from my cadets asking what we could do in honor of the student who died and I wondered myself. I then went on with the rest of the day as I was staying out of town with a great group of friends. We shopped and I think I did more giving to myself and that does not count for this Lenten Giving Project. Then I found myself ready for bed and "deedless" and it came to me....I would say a rosary for the boys in the accident. I have not said a true rosary in so many years and so I really felt that this was the right thing to do and it was what my grandmother would have done. I said a rosary and it reminded me that taking the time to pray is important and I should do it more often.I pray that the families find the strength to survive this tragedy.
       Now it is Sunday my 5th day of giving and I am enjoying the chance to write about all of this and yet I am also finding that I really have to think about doing something nice for others. I do not think I am a bad person, but I find that so much of my day is spent trying to keep up that I miss the chance to do things for others (besides my kids of course). I certainly smile and say hello and I hold the door open for people but I don't always communicate that I appreciate people and all that they do for me or for the community or for my family. I think letting people know that they are noticed and appreciated is important. I think that making something better in someone else's life even if they do not directly affect your life is important.
          That is what I tried to do today. I have too many things in my closet and I say that I will clear it out often. I have in fact cleared it out recently but the things usually make it as far as the guest room bed and there they sit. Today I went through all of it and pulled some more from other closets and I started to pack it into bags. I was thinking it would be easiest to put it all into bags for the Guardian Angel and then I could get a tax deduction and quickly get the bags out of the house. However, when I started to go through the pile I thought of several people that I could give some of the things to and I knew they would love and use them, I went through all of the items and packed two bags for the wonderful mom who drives the bus for my JROTC cadet events (she has lost a bunch of weight but does not have the extra funds for new better fitting clothes). two bags of books for my favorite second grade teacher's classroom and a bag of clothes for my friend with 13 kids (there is always someone in her crowd that fits what my guys outgrow). I also put some bras in a bag for the collection box at Soma because they say that bras are greatly needed by women who are in shelters or experiencing hard financial times. It would have been easier to put it all in bags and clear it out today but it feels better knowing that it will be used and enjoyed. I still sent eight bags to Guardian Angel but I feel really good about my other used gift bags.