How time flies when you are having fun giving

15 days since my last blog. I was traveling and for once did not take my laptop with me. (That was a kind of gift to myself, I guess. :) I also did not check my blackberry very often. Was so nice to be 'unavailable', technologically speaking.) But I did take a giving spirit, and while the days kind of blurred together, I did give everyday. Some of the highlights were being in a grocery store the day before Christmas to pick up last minute groceries for the holiday feast and putting a few dollars into a jar at the checkout that was going to be used to buy goods for Christmas boxes for those who were more worried about where their next meal was coming from than what might appear under the tree. As I went out, my daughter at my side, a niggling voice in my head said "go on, put in all you've got." All I had left in my wallet was a $10 bill and two $1, so I took them out, gave them to my daughter and asked her to go back into the store and make another donation. I think she got a thrill out of being part of the giving.
I also bought a card for Deb Gotto while I was away, after reading Gloriana P's entry about her friend who is fighting intacranial hypertension, not a disorder I was familiar with before, but I take can be very serious.
I'm about to drop that card in the mail and will include a link to that posting here in case anyone else wants to send Deb a note. (http://www.29gifts.org/profiles/blogs/day-15-of-rnd-2)
Continuing on the idea that some gifts don't cost money ( a bit of a theme for me in this first cycle of giving), I went and picked up information on a baby massage class for my sister-in-law, who is a new mother and shared that information with her.
There's been many other small, quick gifts along the way. My husband and I stopping to wait for a classical violinist to play in the subway, giving him a small donation for his gift of music, then a few dollars for a man who looked like he needed a hot meal, a donation to a charity for children, and another to help the blind, taking treats into the office to share... All that said, I think I've received more than I have given. For one, there hasn't been a single time when I consciously gave that I didn't feel some benefit just from the act, even if it was only a feeling of hope and belief that the world really is a fine place to be.
I'm also glad to be surrounded by all of you beautiful hearts in this virtual world. Peace & love.