Random Acts of Love

We Didn't See It Coming
No one ever sees it coming. A random act is just that. Random. Right before this Christmas past I headed out to the front porch. Or should I say I dragged my listless body through the house and forced myself to go out there. The porch is where our mail gets shoved through a brass slot in our front door. I used to think that old fashioned door and mail slot added so much character to our old house. Now, I viewed that mail slot like a hungry mouth that clutched our bills in it's jaw everyday. It used to irk me that on occasion I had to fight to get my bills out of it's crooked smile when the hinges got stuck at an angle. It was bad enough that all that toothless, gaping hole ever offered me was a reminder of what we owed and to whom. For so many years we made ends meet just like everyone else. We pushed and pulled until they came together and we always had what our family needed. Lately the ends had gotten so frayed that even gentle tugging left them in tatters and snaking around my ankles threatening to drag me under. At Christmastime everything was just too overwhelming. Until, that fateful day I experienced a random act of love.

Christmas Cards, Bills and Money?
I gathered the customary daily offering of bills and a smattering of Christmas cards. Curiously, I also picked up a 5 3/4" x 5 1/4" x 3/4" Ready Post mailing box. I had never received such a box before. I know the dimensions because it's contents caught our whole family so off guard that I saved it. It was a little cardboard treasure box filled with such a random act of love that it still chokes me up. I gave it to my husband because I noticed it had come from his sister Sue. It had eight USA 44 cent American flag stamps adorning it. Not very Christmasy at all I had noted decidedly but still it was a mystery. My husband looked it over and shifted it from one hand to the other. I watched him, expecting him to shake it and hold it up to his ear like a child does with a gift. He didn't, he just said, "Hmmm, I wonder what this is"? Then he opened it. I wasn't in the room at the time because I thought it might be personal. Then I heard him call me very insistently. It sounded like something was wrong. I ran in the room and he was sitting with the opened box on his lap. Five shiny gift cards were sliding off his legs in every direction.

What Do We Do?
Without embarrassing Sue and her husband Ed let's just say each of the five gift cards were very generous. So generous that we were stumped at what we were supposed to do next. Of course, a phone call at least with a heartfelt thank-you was in order. Somehow, it didn't strike us as adequate. We were confounded by this random act of love. It was the physical expression of love that was surprising. We all know our families love us. It is understood we all love each other. We say it often when we gather and we mean it. We regularly celebrate each others milestones in our extended families. We attend weddings, birthdays, funerals and christenings. These are the expected acts of love that we have become so familiar with. The unexpected and heartfelt random act left us speechless and all choked up.

It's Not About the Money
When my husband made the call to his sister he kept saying, "I can't believe you did this"! "I can't thank-you enough"! After awhile he handed the phone over to me. As he was doing so it hit me what had just happened. Here was a part of our extended family that had been thinking about us alot. That little cardboard box wasn't filled lightly. This was something that was thought about and discussed in her family before it was gifted. This was something that was agreed upon and sent with feeling. When I took the phone I thanked her as expected. Then unexpectedly, I opened up my heart to let her in. I told her that the gift cards were a thoughtful gift and came at a time when we really needed them. Then I told her that what really struck me was the expression of love and support that they conveyed to us all. Her whole family touched ours right to our core. It wasn't about the money. The true gift was the message.

What a Random Act of Love Means
The message that a random act of love sends is more important than the act itself. The message to us on that day was this: "We know you are really having a hard time right now". "We wish we could do something more than send you gifts". "We wish somehow we could make you better and stop you from feeling so sick". "All we have right now is this money that really isn't going to be missed". "We are doing alright and you guys aren't right now and we just want you to know how much we love you and are here for you". "Please, call us if you need anything". "We can always help you with something, we just need to know what you need". "We want you to know we think about you everyday and are praying for you".

Living in the Afterglow
The sweet afterglow of a random act of love lasts a very long time. It is almost March and I just used the last gift card to purchase a large lot of medicine for my husband. I have been hanging on to them and using them very wisely only when necessary. As a matter of fact I used the last one yesterday at Rite Aid. When I came home I handed my husband his bag of drugs and I said, "that's the last of the cards." " I can't believe how long we stretched those out." I felt a little sad about the last one leaving my hand. It waslike letting go of a secret love note that had been carried around, read and reread. At least each one was used in my husbands care and we were proud of that. He is worth every last ember of the afterglow of that random act of love.

Hit Us Again and Make That a Double
This week had been very trying for our family. On Tuesday my husband had two biopsies of his skin. One on his arm which was a sizeable chunk of flesh and a small one on his face. On Wednesday he had another test to check for aneurysms anywhere they could possibly be. Thankfully all of his blood is circulating and flowing correctly . We won't know anything on the biopsies for a couple of weeks. Today he called me at work and sounded concerned about something. He asked me if we could talk a minute. I said, "sure, is everything alright?" I heard him say, "they did it again"! He was almost whispering and I didn't know what he was talking about. I asked him to clarify. He said, "my sister Sue did it again and this time so did Paulette"! I instantly knew we had been hit again with random acts of love and this time we got hit twice as hard! I came home and found two envelopes containing pretty cards and you guessed it. Physical expressions of love and support from people who just wanted to let us know they are still thinking of us. The very day after I used the last card from the first hit of a random act of love.

Planning Revenge
I know there will come a time when we will be fully on our feet again. I have caught myself many times planning my own random act of love in the future. Revenge can be sweet when it is loving. Finding ourselves on the receiving end of a random act of love spurns us on to pay that forward when we can. It is such a life changing event that for me I want to perpetuate such a crime on another unsuspecting party. I want someone else to feel that first emotion we felt when looking upon the contents of that cardboard box for the first time. I want to hit someone hard when they are down and cause them to look up and know they are loved too.