Sunny in Seattle

I swear if my “clout score” were higher I would be on Facebook’s public enemy list. I usually rant about how stupid everything and everyone can be on Facebook. Not today! (okay, at least not before 9am)

I browsed through my newsfeed reading the usual banter – look at my kid, check me out in an ugly sweater, I ran 16 miles – but two post stopped me in my tracks.

The first was written by a woman I met during CrossFit. She was the most welcoming and encouraging person at “the box” and her husband was just as kind. They had an amazing marriage where they played together and still slapped each other on the behind and had cute pet names. I dubbed them my CrossFit parents. She always told me I reminded her of her youngest (she had five children just like my parents!).

Last year they hosted the CrossFit holiday party. Their home was just as warm as their personalities and of course their children were there and all of them were ridiculously kind as well. I toured around to admire the décor and stopped in front of a shelf with a framed American flag. There were other parts of a military uniform preserved and a photo of a young man that resembled their father. I began to form a lump in my throat as I pieced things together.

As I continued touring around I noticed that their family photos also went from a total of 7 to 6 people in 2005. I turned away and fought back tears as I did not want to cry the midst of the party. The next day I did some research and learned that they lost him not overseas but while he was about to leave to go overseas in a car accident. It was a cry (hard) at work day.

Today, my CrossFit mom posted this link (click on title of post). This didn’t ANGER me but it simply reminded me of how wonderful she is of a person and how much pain she went through. I want to do good because of her.

Secondly, one of my favorite coworkers battled cancer last year and she wrote the touching “status update” of how she is grateful for her eyelashes, eyebrows and inch of hair. She ended her message with this, “Good or bad, well planned or not, “long” or “short”, this life here certainly ends, so again, I urge you to plan for eternity. If I can help you in anyway, please let me know.” I’m not the most religious person but her strength and positivity inspired me too.

I am going to challenge myself to do random acts of kindness. I hope that these acts will cause a domino effect and lift spirits. I want this to be contagious. Today, I plan on buying the person behind their coffee. Hopefully they don’t think I am a creepo and/or they aren’t ordering for 10 other people. J