Tell Me Something Good – Making Someone’s Day
it is hard to believe how quickly summer is passing. i keep seeing all these ‘back to school supplies’ at the store and i keep panicking that i don’t have enough #2 pencils. then i remember i haven’t needed a #2 pencil since 2001.
as a reminder, 31 days of kindness is still going strong so join in if you haven’t already!
today’s ‘tell me something good’ has to do with my sweet husband. a few weeks ago he was at the national speakers association (NSA for short – but that confuses people) conference in arizona. he said it was hotter than the inside of a volcano (okay, i said that but i can vouch for phoenix temperatures) but the view wasn’t bad apparently:
ravery was out at the pool, getting his 50 minute swim in for ironman training and he saw a friendly face – margaret.
they started talking. she said she was taking a “me” day and about to go get her very first massage! a few things about margaret – though i’ve only met her a handful of times, each of our interactions consisted of her being hilarious, generous and kind. she had us over for a turkey dinner before we left oregon and she sent us home with tupperwares full of leftovers. when i offered to return the tupperwares, she told me to keep them (and i’m currently eating watermelon out of one of them now!)
she also works very hard. she is the mother of our friend and fellow speaker, jake french.
who is jake? here’s a brief snapshot i nabbed from his website (go check him out):
“After a devastating accident, and some huge life-lesson choices left him a quadriplegic, he fell into the same pity pit so many people feel pushed into today. Life in a wheelchair at 23? What kind of an existence would that be? A light bulb illuminated when he noticed other patients who had much worse situations, but the severity didn’t seem to affect their ability to move on. There must be another variable here? It was in that hospital room where Jake realized the opportunity created by FOCUS, ATTITUDE and CHOICE. The emotional pull when he shares that moment with audiences of all ages connects and creates a shift so powerful, it practically removes the words, “I can’t” from their vocabulary.”
jake and margaret are a team. not only is she his mother but also his caregiver and helps with his business too. i give you this background so that you might better understand how rarely and how important margaret’s “me” time is (and i’m sure jake’s too)!
my husband, being the genuinely kind and thoughtful man he is, decided to do something good. he used funds from our “good causes” account and paid for her first massage. i didn’t know he did this but then i saw this posted on his facebook from margaret and got all choked up:
it might sound cliche but my goodness how i fall deeper in love with that man frequently. i encourage you to start spreading kindness every chance you get (and join us for #31DaysofKindness and we will give you the prompts for the month of august)!
the world can always use more goodness and kindness – it’s up to us to spread it!
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Elyse@JustMurrayed
August 12, 2016 at 12:20 am
What an awesome thing ravery did! You’re right there is literally no one else as deserving as Margaret for some pampering!
P.S. I love that you have a feel good account – we normally just take it out of our weekly spending money if we want to ‘do good’.
Elyse@JustMurrayed recently posted…Warmth
chelsea
August 15, 2016 at 10:15 am
wasn’t that so sweet?! she commented on my facebook post of this that she is still smiling from it!
we used to do that too but now we found it’s great to have a separate account to put our money in (we personally do 10%) and use a separate card to either use for donating somewhere or using in this way. love that you and andrew do this too!
Audrey
August 12, 2016 at 7:31 am
Seriously the sweetest! What a wonderful gesture!
And I love that you have a “good cause” account- I think that just goes to show how amazing both Ryan AND you are!
Audrey recently posted…My People
chelsea
August 15, 2016 at 10:14 am
yay so happy you linked up – thanks audrey!
it has been such a game changer for us to set aside 10% of our income to ‘good causes’ – even when we were really struggling and i selfishly wanted to keep the money for us. good thing i married a kind and wise man who reminded me we thankfully always have enough to give!
chelsea recently posted…#SisterMoms Baby Shower – A Success!
Vivien
August 12, 2016 at 1:06 pm
Yeah go Ryan! I love the idea that the two of you have a “feel good” bank account.
chelsea
August 15, 2016 at 10:18 am
it’s been very powerful, vivien! it’s a tangible way for us to accumulate money to either save up and donate a larger amount somewhere or do small things when we see it!
Jennifer Haston
August 13, 2016 at 6:48 am
Oh I love that! Jeremy (my husband) is always doing stuff like that.. (which he won’t ever take credit for) We have a giving fund for just that kind of thing.. ) Usually the gesture is more specific, case in point.. last night he took care of something I asked him to do like 2 days after I asked him about it.. and it just made my heart melt! My tell you something good is two-fold.. One of the days of kindness is give something away or give a gift.. I bought a new purse recently.. Burberry knockoff 10.00.. HELLO! and realized.. the red purse I have already is in pretty good shape.. so I gave it to a friend who had said when I first got it, you let me know if you ever get tired of it.. and the joy on her face.. my gosh.. that was great.. I want to give more and more.. just see that look. Also, yesterday I saw what I thought was going to be a hit and run with 3 cars.. and I saw them all get out and exchange information, sad to see an accident of course.. I was glad to see that people were taking responsibility for what happened..
chelsea
August 15, 2016 at 10:34 am
love that you have a giving fund too jennifer – YAY! totally love the story you shared about giving your friend your red purse that she has lusted after! how marvelous and way to spread the love. also happy to hear that all people stopped and exchanged info from the accident – agreed that it’s great to see responsibility!