Day 15 - Grant a Wish for a Stranger

 Date: January 21st, 2010

I am delightfully, deliciously OCD most of the time.  To that end, when I started organizing events for this project, I broke them down into groups based on a few categories in a color-coded spreadsheet.  What?  I thought that's how everyone handled life-changing journeys of discovery.  Anyway.  I placed experiences into two major categories and then broke them down from there.  Those categories were "planned events" and "experiences of opportunity".

The way I figured it, there are a few things that are just... going to happen.  Sometimes its just the right place at the right time or kismet or, I don't know, the will of Zoltan.  In any case, I had discovered a website a few weeks back that essentially set up a one-on-one charitable exchange.  It looked like a simply brilliant idea.  So I immediately put the site on my list.  While I got going on other things, I'd check in every once in a while and see if anything caught my eye.


Today something did.  I was supposed to learn Israeli dancing tonight... but that happens every Thursday.  Instead, when I looked through the site this morning, I saw a post that touched my heart.  In Florida there is a little boy named JP who is turning two years old in a few days.  His mom was asking the community for just a card with $1 or something else small so she could get him something to unwrap on his birthday.  I caught myself tearing up in class this morning and I was profoundly lucky that the professor didn't notice.  I don't think I could have convinced him I was crying about the founding fathers' understanding of the establishment clause and its application to local religious charters.  That's only something you cry about when exams roll around.

So I did what any self-respecting 25 year-old with a penchant for acts of internet kindness would do.  I calmly proceeded, without fanfare or excitement, to the nearest store that was likely to sell things a two-year-old would like.  I don't know if you've been to one of these places recently, but they're extremely boring and utterly lacking any and all color or enjoyment.  Oh who am I kidding?

TTTTTTOOOOOOYYYYYYSSSSSS

IIIIII LLLLLLOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEE TOYS!@@#($&@(#*

Honestly, who doesn't love toys?  I spent at least an hour longer than I needed to just looking at all the things kids nowadays get to play with.  That's right - I went there.  Kids nowadays with their elmo and red bull, baggy pants and Leap Frog Learning Games.  In my day we had legos and a bouncy ball and we were lucky!

 

Recently inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame 

All kidding aside, shopping for a two-year-old is actually quite difficult.  There were a ton of toys designed for 18-month-old kids that looked too young for a burgeoning toddler.  Then there were just oodles of toys for 3-year-old kids that had lots of swallowable parts.  So that didn't seem like a good idea either.  I settled on a couple things that looked delightful, challenging for a two-year-old and wholly inedible.

The woman at the UPS Store seemed unconcerned that I was taking a picture of my own package.

I cannot even begin to describe the joy I felt once that package was in the mail.  There aren't words for it.  I chose to write about this tonight because it got me thinking.  Every single thing we have in this life, both big and small, is a gift.  It is a blessing to be able to do something for a little boy on his birthday.  It is a blessing to be able to read stories of how a person's life has been touched.  It is a blessing to ask for help and receive it from perfect strangers, seeking only to make the world just a little better than it was before.  All these things are blessings that I am personally guilty of taking for granted.

So far, each of the things I've done has been... nice.  Pretty much everything has fallen into the "sure, I'd do that again, it was a nice experience" category.  Today was the first time I did something that I know, for a fact and without question, that I will do again.  The beauty of the site is that you can search for wishes.  You can look and find something that you're uniquely qualified to help with and offer help.

I'll finally stop alluding to it now and tell you what its called: Wish Upon a Hero.  The idea is amazing and there are millions of things that can be done without sending money or gifts.  Many of the wishes are for prayers, cards, advice, services -- things that anyone, in any state can give. As for JP, who's turning two very soon, if you would like to send him a gift too then send me a private message on Facebook and I'll pass the shipping info along.

At the very least it'll give you an excuse to hang out in Toys-R-Us for a little while.

 

It looks like candy tastes.  A-MA-ZING.