Random Acts of Kindness...

I forgot to tell you all the "pay it forward" here I received my first day in the Ozarks...it went something like this.

I had a huge meltdown when we finally arrived here. I had just come off 1 month straight of total chaos and traveling to finding a new house, Sacramento, Vegas and finally our new home! It was of of those months where you really don't have time to think, because you are on the go, and each moment you are looking at the clock waiting for appointments, planes, traveling or someone to arrive to move your stuff! Oh... and rehearsing for the album that I am currently recording all at the same time. I convinced myself to do a little shopping to make myself feel better and came home with an outfit that was truly fit for a hoochie mama! A far cry from the original dress that i was intending to buy for this Vegas wedding which was ultra conservative and very classy. But I had gone shopping with a friend of mine and we had both officially lost all our "baby" weight so we felt good, and sexy, so home I came with a bit of a "Too sexy for a mom" kind of dress and didn't even want to show my husband until the day of the wedding when I saw him there dressed and ready to go!

Needless to say he walked in a little too early, but his reaction was priceless....he loved it! I felt great, a little sexy, a little hoochie, but great!

Fast forward to a sobering experience in the hotel room where I realize we landed the plane in between cow pastures, nothing in sight for miles and desolate areas of total vastness!

My kids are sleeping, it's been a looooooooonnnnngggg day traveling across time zones, and I lose it, and i mean lose it to the point of total hysteria! For any woman who has gone through this knows it's the type of hysteria where you aren't even really sure of why your crying but you know it just needs to come out! I literally have to calm myself down and force myself to sleep, my husband is in a panic because he's not quite sure where this came from...type of thing...

The next morning the kids and I slept until about 11am...yea, you read that correctly, and this is so totally unusual. I get a call from my husband who tells me he's summoned my mother to fly in and help me out in the hopes that having my mom will help me out! I truly think he is that best to realize that it wasn't personal, but there are certain things only a mother can do.....

First meal of the day, Chick-fil-la for the kiddies. I pull up to the drive through and the manager tells me it's all taken care of..."excuse me?" He said the gentleman in the car in front of me paid for my bill. I am a bit dumbfounded, not sure what to say, so I say, "Hey, I'm from LA, things like this just don't happen, does this happen around here often?" He replies..."yes M'am", "sometimes it does...".

I immediately call my husband to explain my weird encounter and after investigation he says its some kind of "Random act of kindness thing, like a pay it forward"... ooookkkay!

Fast forward to a month later and sure enough people do the nicest things, far beyond just opening a door for you. Like, helping you with groceries for packages when they see you have your hands full, etc. At first I was a bit taken back, but i now find myself randomly doing things for others if I have an extra means of doing it.

I am still on the prowl for paying for an extra meal through that drive-in, but I mostly find at Starbucks the person behind me is in a Mercedes, BMW or Acura and I think, are they really in need of me paying for their coffee? A friend of mine pointed out..your at Starbucks, what do you expect, if you hit up the local donut shop you might find a suitable random person in need! And then at the end of the conversation I realize this is all too mathematical ,and the whole point of random acts is to not seek it out, but to randomly just "do it"!

My first lesson here has taught me a lot in the month I have been here, a pleasant experience, and one I truly hope to pay it forward!