Day 31

This morning I woke up bright and early and went to the oldest cemetery in Charlottetown to spread some kindness. This seemed to be the only cemetery that didn’t have flowers - so cold and unloved, not an ideal resting place for those that were buried there. I bought 75 silk flowers thinking I would have enough to give one flower to every plot. I soon realized I really underestimated the size of the grave yard - there were 425 stones. I took the time to read the headstones as I made my way through the rows. I was deep into the cemetery and only had a couple of flowers left, when I heard a man speak to me. It startled me for a minute but I turned around and saw such a big smile. He said how great the flowers looked and that they really brightened things up in there. His name was Carl and he was the caretaker of the graveyard and also a metallic sculpture artist. We really hit it off and he told me stories about the graveyard and the people buried there. It turns out no one had been buried there since 1873, no wonder there were no flowers from loved ones, so many generations later. I am really glad I was able to pay my respect to 75 of them today and to learn so much about this historical burial ground.

On my lunch break I brought skipping ropes, hula hoops and beach toys to the park and put a “Have Fun!” sign on them. I walked by after work today and the beach toys were in the sand box area and it looked like the other things had all been played with too. It was nice to see that kids played with the toys but they left them behind for others to enjoy too.

It was such a gorgeous warm day today so I brought some freezies in to work for my colleagues. On my way home I gave out the rest of them to people that I saw while walking. I got such mixed reviews, some were so appreciative you would think I gave them a hundred dollars. Others were puzzled and tried to pay me for them. A few were apprehensive and declined. It was a neat little experiment, next time I will try popsicles, that way I wouldn't have to carry around scissors to cut the ends off for them :)

I also helped two tourists from Ontario narrow down their choices for dinner, we talked for 15 minutes and I felt like I knew them for years -very kind people. Then I dropped off teddy bears to “Pat and the Elephant” as they were taking donations for a little girl who lost all her teddy bears in a house fire.

It was such an incredible day, a perfect ending to my 31 days of kindness.  Although my blog ends today, I know my random acts of kindness will continue. Kindness is truly the best feeling I have ever experienced, I had no idea the impact this month would have on my life.  Thank you to all of you who followed along on my little journey and also for those of you who started up your own kindness acts/initiatives as a result :)

I’m concluding my last post with Danielle LaPorte’s  inspiring words: 

“Be the Giver”

Give. Be the giver. Be generous. Be voluptuous with your love.

Give first. Be the first to say who you are -- otherwise, the world will define you and you'll have less to give.

Be the first to say I love you, because you do love -- instantly.

Be the first to give an apology, even if you’re just thinking about being sorry.

Giving will show you who you are.

(You may not be who you thought you were, and you'll realize you have so much more ... to give.)

Give up your seat.

Give up your beliefs and you'll be able to give more freely.

Give in the way that only you can give.

Give of yourself. You’ll never regret it.

And never stop giving.