Friday, September 21, 2012

The Birthday Project part 2

I know this is a little late, but I did finish my 25 acts of kindness on my birthday.

17) Let someone go ahead of me in line

18) Took care of the kids so Will could take a nap.

19) Made Will breakfast in bed.

20) Visited a friend in the hospital.

21) Left a treat in the mailbox for the mailman.

22) Paid for someones groceries.

23) Bought lemonade from the neighbor kids.

24) Took a handful of kids out of sacrament so their parents could just listen.

25) Took doughnuts to the fire fighters.

Tears are streaming down my face as I type the last one. Partly because it was a really neat experience and also because I know it is long over due. It has been two years since Will's accident, and this was the first time that I did anything to thank the men that saved Will's life.
I figured that I would just drop the doughnuts off, give a quick thank you and be on my way. They answered the door and asked Lincoln if he wanted to come in and see the fire trucks. He of course said yes and started running around in circles. He climbed up on the truck and I took his pictures.


We made small talk for a few seconds and then I said "You may not remember me, but my husband was in an accident a few years ago and I remember you being one of the men who helped save his life." He said "Yes I was the lead paramedic that day. I have thought about that call a lot....It his really close to home for a lot of us." We talked about how Will was doing and he asked if the crazy little boy running up and down the fire trucks was the one I was holding in my arms when they arrived at the house.

He talked about how us coming and knowing everything went well with Will, brought him a lot of closure. We also talked about how we both had separately made the call to not lift the car off of Will with the jack, and how we had struggled with that decision, not knowing for sure if that was the right call.

I told him Will was in the car and would love to also say thank you. So he walked out to the car and talked to Will for a few minutes. He told him how lucky he was to be alive and asked if he had bought car jack blocks.

We said thank you a few more times and we were on our way.

This was the best Birthday by far. I love the feeling that you get from forgetting yourself and serving others. I may not do something everyday, but  I will continue to try to do the little things and serve my friends, neighbors, family and strangers. If you do the same I know your lives will be richly blessed.

4 comments:

Soni Levenseller said...

Great post! made me cry. Gotta love the firemen and paramedics!

HT said...

This totally made me cry. Love you guys. You are such a good example.

Adam and Hilary said...

Such an amazing story. It made me think of angels helping the firefighters lift the car. Thank you for sharing.

Sharlene, Mom, Grammy said...

Nothing like making us all cry!!! :) But they are tears of joy and gratitude. Thanks for sharing your recent experience with the firefighters - so glad you were able to do that.

I've really enjoyed reading about your acts of service and love to others in celebration of your own birthday. You are an angel. xo