Welcome Note
Yesterday, in my post Restoring Faith In Humanity, I challenged others to commit one Random Act of Kindness, and stated that I would be committing my own and posting about it later. Well, it’s now time to share what I chose to do!
Backstory: This past summer, our neighbors put their house up for sale. We live in a very small cul-de-sac, and having grown up in the country, I’d never really had ‘neighbors’ per se. I’d grown up watching shows like Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver, and I’d always loved the idea of people being so friendly and neighborly that they brought over a cake or something to welcome someone to their neighborhood. I enjoyed the thought of this so much that, during my first marriage, where we lived wasn’t exactly a ‘neighborhood’, but there were neighbors across the street, and when the old moved out and the new moved in, I decided that I would bake a cake to welcome them. It was actually my mom’s cousin’s son and his wife (who was from Mexico), so I thought it would be especially thoughtful of me to write ‘Bienvenido’ on the cake, which means ‘Welcome’ in Spanish. To make a long story short, I took over the cake and not only did they not even say thank you, about a year later, I caught them trying to steal my cat! Fast-forward to current day, and the new neighbor moving in next door this past summer.
I actually live in a neighborhood proper this time, and although I meant to go over and officially welcome her to the neighborhood, I never actually got around to it. After reading a few of Christine’s posts (Project Light to Life) I decided that it was time to take care of that little act of kindness I’d been neglecting, so while my Love was at work, I pulled out a cake mix I had in my cabinet and baked a cake. Luckily I still had some icing left from the cake I baked for my sister-in-law’s birthday last week! I closed up the box, taped it shut, and wrote ‘FRAGILE’ and ‘PERISHABLE’ and between the two, I taped a note that welcomed her to the neighborhood and apologized for my delay in being neighborly (and mentioned that there were eggs in the cake, just in case she was allergic).
At 6 a.m., I carried the box next door and placed it on the hood of her car. I had considered sitting it on her porch, but I was afraid she’d step out of the door, and right into the center of the cake (because I mean, who expects a welcome cake 6 months after moving into your house?)! I figured the safest place would be the hood of the car.
About an hour after I returned home, it dawned on me that today was Sunday. She probably wouldn’t be leaving for work this morning! I decided I’d keep checking and if she hadn’t left before I went to bed (I’m on night-shift hours currently, so I sleep during the day) I’d go fetch it and knock on her door.
At about 8:30 this morning, I was happy to see that her car was gone, which means she got her cake.
So, that was my Random Act of Kindness.
Better late than never, right?
Welcome Cake
Related articles
- Random Acts of Kindness (beckadefalco.wordpress.com)
- Andy Griffith the Con Artist (marjoriewhitley.wordpress.com)
- Next step in creating positive change – community (video) (motivatingforpositivechange.wordpress.com)
That was cute! It makes me laugh to hear the word “commit” with “act of kindness”, for some reason I had word associated with “committing” a crime, but I’m happy I can now think of the word with a more positive connotation! I would be interested to read what her response is – if she goes over to say thank you, or does something in return.
My friend and I are actually trying out doing an act of kindness a day for a week (and then possibly for longer) As today is my second day, I thought of baking something and bringing it over to my neighbours, which is something I’d always wanted to do, but since my parents never did it I thought it would be strange if I randomly started doing it. You have, however, inspired me, I think I’ll be off to bake something right now!
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Awesome! I feel like the tradition of welcoming our new neighbors and just being kind to one another is a sad one to lose. Who knows, maybe you will be the start of bringing it back to your neighborhood!
I don’t expect her to say thank you (the last time I tried this it didn’t do anything to improve neighborly relations, lol), and she may even think I’m a little strange now, LOL. I know in present day, people are suspicious of foodstuffs from strangers, and she may not even eat it… But I’m hoping it’s the thought that counts!
Thank you for commenting, and thank you for following! I’d love to hear about what you end up doing!
Have a great day!
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Oh, and I intentionally used ‘commit’ in that context, for that very reason! When we hear the phrase ‘committed an act of violence’ or ‘committed an act of vandalism’, it implies that the act was done deliberately, with intent… which is the way we should do kindnesses, too. We should make a point to deliberately commit acts of kindness every day, or at least when the opportunity presents itself!
“For the charge of 7 counts of kindness, how do you plead?”
“Guilty, your Honor!”
“This court hereby sentences you to seven days of good karma!”
🙂
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Thanks for visiting and liking one of my posts. 😀 Great post today! God bless you!
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Thank you for returning the visit, commenting and following!
Have a wonderful day/evening!
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Thank you! I bless the same to you. 😃
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