I need to be COMMITTED....

 but not to some kind of asylum.  I am talking about commitment versus resolution.  I decided NOT to make any "RESOLUTIONS" per say, in this New Year.  Rather, I decided to commit to being kinder, to engage, to apply, to improve, and to stand out, in whatever I chose.  We live in a crazy, upside world these days. Everything can appear dark, uncertain and foreboding.  Why not shed a little light here and there, by trying to be kind?  To anybody!

Doing a kind gesture à la #beccatoldmeto, EVERY DAY, is relatively easy, especially on a teaching day. I simply offer to do another teacher's supervision, and voilà, instant, HUGE gratitude on their part, and satisfaction on mine.  Love it! 💓

Non working days are a little harder.  However, one day last week, a storm day turned out to be a panoply of simple random acts of kindness, just like that!

It started when I went out to do a few errands.  While browsing at the Salvation Army store, I ended up chatting with the cashier.  Seeing she had an empty Tim Horton's cup nearby, I inquired as to whether she drank their coffee. When she said yes, I handed her a coupon I had received for a free coffee.  She was very happy!  I don't use drive thru windows often, so paying for the coffee of the person behind me, at the drive thru queue, just wouldn't happen. THIS was my version of that common pay-it-forward gesture.

I had dropped off a book at the library, and was returning to my car, slogging my way across and over banks onto a street, full of slushy, icy snow when I noticed a young CCNB student standing up by his very ICED up vehicle, with a look of frustration on his face. He looked frozen too, as he wasn't dressed for winter.  I scooted back across the street. He couldn't get into his car.  The key turned in the lock but the door was completely iced up. He could not get it to budge an inch.  After asking a few questions I established that A) his key-less remote did not work, (no battery!)  B) he had no scraper or any object with which to help clear the ice, and C) all the other doors were locked and had no keyhole). He had one key.  There was therefore no question of trying to get one of the other doors open, and then having him crawl over, into, or across the front seat.  I thought about his dilemma for a minute.   Had it been Jiminy, I would have given the door frame above the keyhole, a good, HARD hit with the heel of my boot.  Since I didn't think he would appreciate my doing that to HIS car, I did the next best thing. Since I had already tried banging the door frame a few times with my upper arm and shoulder, without success, I turned around and did the NEXT BEST THING. I butted the door AS HARD AS I COULD, with my b-a-c-k-s-i-d-e.  You should have seen the look of incredulity and surprise on his face, when he tried the handle again, and the door OPENED! Too funny! Off I went, happy to have helped.  Don't we CANADIANS know all the tricks, when it comes to snow and ice?

I had just turned the corner from the library, now on my way home, when I noticed an elderly gentleman slugging his way through some slushy, icy and generally horrific walking conditions on Douglas Avenue.  He was carrying two, large shopping bags, and they looked heavy. I turned around, rolled down the window, and offered him a ride home.  He accepted, after making sure he told me that he didn't live close by.  I didn't care how far.  The poor man looked e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d. It turns out, he had already walked FIVE kilometers, some of it up a steep hill, to do some grocery shopping and had walked back THREE of those six when I picked him up. Poor soul! I was more than happy to drive him the rest of the way home.   The last half of a kilometre would have been up another hill. I don't know that he would have made it.

So my little outing resulted in a huge dose of dopamine for me and hopefully a tiny dose for the others. Plus, I was now good for three days! :)