Tuesday, July 26, 2011

My Sweet Sister

For my 41st birthday most of you know I did
and asked my friends and family to each do 
one random act of kindness in honor of my birthday.  
It truly is the best gift EVER- knowing others are blessed! 

Well today I received the BEST 
belated Random Act of Kindness email from my sister.  
It was so very sweet it brought me to tears.  
She is precious and I love her! 

Here is what she did in her own words: 

A very delayed RAoK. :-) 

So, this post showed up on my local Freecycle list. 

"[HoustonFreecycle] WANTED: Extra Food and Juices/Drinks ( near her house) 

No money left for groceries til first week in August. Need any unwanted or extra items that you will not need. Good peanut butter (creamy), jams, snack foods, cookies, ground beef, pork, chicken, etc. Haven't eaten meat in about 1 month. Milk (whole). Local pantries nearly empty and cannot make meals out of offerings. I'm HIV+ due to transfusion in 1980 and good nutrition is imperative to those living with this. I never dreamed that I would be asking for help in this area and I am greatly humbled /embarrassed in doing so. Thank you."

I thought about it for a day. I mean, you never know about people on Freecycle. They could be lying or whatever. I finally decided that it couldn't hurt to email the person and find out more, especially since they don't live far away. 

We traded a few emails and he gave me a small grocery list. He said that food pantries give out things (like meal mixes) that need other things (like meat or milk) to become a meal, which meant that he needed odd stuff. So, I took his list and went to the Walmart Neighborhood Market. I bought just about everything on his list. Granted, most of it was store brand, but it was food. 

He met me in the parking lot of the store to get the groceries. I was handing him bags to put in the back of his car and he seemed surprised when I kept handing them to him. I finally had to explain that everything in the cart was for him, that I did my own shopping last week. He almost started crying because he couldn't believe it. He talked about paying me back on the 3rd, when he gets his next disability check, but I told him not to worry about it, to just pay it forward. Then I told him about my sister and her RAoK. :-) 

He asked if he could give me a hug (I said yes), we chatted for a few minutes and then we both went our separate ways. I'll probably never see him again, but I was able to help him out with food for the next 11 days and that's what is important. 

So there's my RAoK for your birthday. It's the best $50 I ever spent. :-)



Isn't that awesome? I love her so!