Happy belated birthday to Olivia Engel, who would have been 7 yesterday, had she not been a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting. As we welcome a royal baby, let us remember that some families this year will not be able to celebrate with the bundles of joy they brought home from the hospital 7 years ago. My dad passed away 5 years ago and his birthday was on Saturday and while my dad lived a long and happy life, I can tell you that his birthday each year still brings me to a few tears. I’m sure it’s even worse when losing a child. So, let’s all pray for Olivia’s family this week!

It’s a little tricky these days to do acts of kindness in memory of each of the Sandy Hook victims due to the restrictions of my recuperation from 2 heart attacks. Why? I’m not supposed to be outside in weather over 95 degrees and most Texans are asleep in July when it’s under 95 degrees, even my night owl self included.

Also, prior to the heart attacks I at least had 1 allergy shot each week to ward off my anaphylaxis tendencies. Sometimes I get 2. I’m now not allowed to get allergy shots for the time being, meaning that if I go outside, I risk anaphylaxis just by breathing the air, literally. While I take 1 allergy med every single day, often 2 or 3 meds are needed if I can’t keep the allergens from bothering me. I’ve been warned that if I go into anaphylaxis, that would be detrimental to my heart, because they would use the complete opposite meds they use for my heart. Joy. So, I am presently spending a lot of time indoors (with lots of air purifiers and allergy filters all around me) getting a really bad case of cabin fever. So, what’s a an act of kindness giver supposed to do with that?

Fortunately, I have “elves.” One elf works at two car washes, cleaning the bays, emptying trash, and making sure things there are working properly. The car washes are self-serve, so it requires the use of a lot of quarters in order to clean one’s car or truck. Yes, these would be the same car washes where I recounted counting so many of those quarters. (Yes, I deliberately used, “recounted counting.”)

Thus, to honor last week’s honoree, Caroline Previdi, I decided to gather up all of the quarters laying around the house and in my wallet and ask my elf to give them to some unsuspecting stranger and just say that a stranger wanted to help them out. The elf rightly questioned doing this, suggesting that he or she could get in trouble with the boss for giving someone “free quarters” as an employee there. So, I suggested that he or she text said boss and just let them know an “act of kindness was in progress” in advance. The quarters were given out and 1 car wash customer left very happy as I write this. 🙂

This brings our MIP acts of kindness total to 63! This week we honor Jessica Rekos. Here is what CNN had to say about her:

Jessica Rekos, 6

Jessica loved everything about horses — horse movies, horse books, drawing horses and writing stories about them. She asked Santa this year for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her family had promised she could get her own horse when she turned 10. “She was a creative, beautiful, little girl,” her family said in a statement, describing Jessica as their “rock.” “She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time. We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything,” they said. “We can not imagine our life without her.” Jessica also loved orca whales and playing with her two little brothers. “We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can’t play with his best friend,” her family said.

What did you do for Caroline? Please leave a comment in the box below at least letting me know you participated in an act of kindness. If you want to add details of what it was like to do your act of kindness, GREAT! That will probably inspire others to do likewise, but I also respect your right to keep these things to yourself. 🙂

Thursday’s Post: Why I’m Not a Blogger Blogger…

You might also like: 26 Tuesdays: Caroline Previdi; 26 Tuesdays: Noah Pozner; 26 Tuesdays: Jack Pinto; and 26 Tuesdays: Emilie Parker

Last week’s 26 Tuesdays honoree was Noah Pozner. Noah had a great heart, according to those who knew him. This is about all we know of Noah and so, I wondered how I was going to do something that would involve just caring and having a great heart. Thankfully, my answer was given to me quite easily and randomly.

As I was returning home one day, I noticed a lawn care and landscaping truck and trailer turning and going up the street where I live. As they turned, they lost a gas can off the back of the low trailer. They started to increase speed to go up the hill and I realized they had no idea they had lost one of their gas cans. How was I going to flag them down, since I was quite far behind them? I honked my car horn several times in rapid succession and they finally stopped further up the hill, quite obviously surprised by my honking.

I stopped my car near the gas can and hopped out to get it. It was pretty full of gas, so I was glad that I had honked my horn–they most likely were going to need the gas in the can for the rest of their work that day. Two men slowly got out of the truck and then realized why I had honked as I made my way up the hill with their gas can. They walked faster, going to meet me in the road. I apologized for honking so much and handed them the can. The man taking the can thanked me.

I like to think that Noah looked down from Heaven and knew I needed some help with my act of kindness this week and just gave that gas can a little nudge off the back of that trailer. I’m probably wrong about that, but it’s how I like to think about it. And when the men got their gas can back, he smiled up there somewhere. Particularly, since the gentlemen in the truck didn’t appear to be able to speak a lot of English. Acts of kindness seldom need mutual language comprehension. They just need to be done.

That means that our MIP Acts of Kindness stand at 60 today. How did you honor Noah this week? Please submit a comment below letting me know that you participated!

This week we honor Caroline Previdi. Like Noah, not much is reported about Caroline’s likes and dislikes, but here’s what CNN said about her:

Caroline Previdi, 6