Portland, a Package, and a Plan

Wednesday morning, and there’s a mystery package at my front door.  The sender is from Portland, Oregon.

I’ve never been to Portland.  The only person I’ve ever known to have lived in Portland is my favorite teacher from 4th grade, Mrs. Anderson, who moved back after she couldn’t take it in LA anymore.

The sender of the package is Yvonne King.  Oh yes!  Sweet, thoughtful Yvonne!  I met Yvonne online a few weeks ago at an ALT online blogging conference.  Yvonne is the creator of Dress This Nest, a fashion-inspired lifestyle blog that teaches you how to transform your house into a modern and chic home.

In the spirit of kindness and generosity, Yvonne took part in the 31 Days of Kindness Project from Happy Joyful Day blog, and chose me to be the next link in the chain.

That’s right, Yvonne told me this package would be coming…sweet, thoughtful Yvonne!

It’s Wednesday morning, October 16th, but it might as well be Christmas!

I can’t explain what it is,  but there is something extraordinarily moving about receiving kindness and goodwill from someone who has absolutely no reason to do so.  There’s no doubt about it, words themselves are enormously powerful, but there is a magic that happens when words meet action.

Yvonne didn’t have to send me a care package, I was already thrilled to have found a kindred spirit with common interests to chat and exchange ideas with.  But what did she do?  She got me a cute tea towel at Target, she wrote me a lovely note with a smiley face on it, and she was thoughtful enough to get me a caffeine-free tisane to enjoy (probably because she has seen all my posts on drinking regular tea).  Most importantly, she took time out of her busy life to make me feel special.  And I know her life is busy because she just posted on Monday that she is pregnant with her second child (how fantastic Yvonne!!)! Smileys back at you!

The thing about random acts of kindness is, you must be brave to do them for people.  It takes heart and confidence to say, “hey, I don’t know you, but I’d like to do something nice for you.”  On the flip side, if you are on the receiving end of an act of kindness, I’m guessing that you are either wanting or needing that kindness in someway…the universe is clearing a path for you.

It’s my turn to pass on the good will, and I have just the person in mind.  She’s an LA based lifestyle photographer who, through her camera lens, helps women feel good about themselves no matter their size, shape, or seeming imperfections.  She just gave birth to a sweet baby boy a few weeks ago, and apparently life is crazy and crazy good at the same time.  In fact, she was posting at 4:47 in the morning last night!  Hopefully, she’ll be one more link in a very long chain.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Yvonne.  And my sincerest gratitude also goes out to Lisa of Happy Joyful Day for starting such an inspiring project.  I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of random acts of kindness thrown my way in my lifetime, but none quite as unexpected and whimsical as this one.  From now on, every time I take a sip of hibiscus tea I’ll be thinking of how I can share more honey and shortbread with others.

Next stop, Santa Monica.

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Shelley Richardson

Hi Bonnie,

Just a note to say how much I am enjoying your beautiful blog.

We had our Tea 101 seminar again, this week in Lexington. It was wonderful, with a full class of enthusiastic tea students. At one point there was a discussion going on which gave us an opportunity to tell everyone about your blog and even bring it up on the screen in front of everybody.

It was a hit and I noticed everyone writing down your contact info.

Bruce and I are leaving for Atlanta Saturday, for World Tea Expo East.

Best wishes to you and I hope we will see each other in Long Beach Ca next spring. They have moved World Tea Expo there instead of Vegas.

Shelley

Shelley Richardson, owner

Phone: 800.765.2139 Fax: 888.879.0467

http://www.elmwoodinn.com

Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 23:00:14 +0000 To: shelley@elmwoodinn.com

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bonnieeng

Shelly, you are the best! Miss my friends in Lexington…have fun at World Tea Expo East…and please say hi to Jen Forehand if you see her. =)

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