November 27, 2016

Best Day Ever!

Bouquets of flowers

We had THE BEST. DAY. EVER! Today we volunteered in the morning at The Food Depot packing bags and bags of pinto beans for people in the community.  This is our 2nd go 'round with The Food Depot and this time we had help and packed over 1,000- 1 pound bags of pinto beans! YAY!

As we were leaving The Food Depot something unexpected happened.

We were told that they had a huge box of flowers and we were welcome to take a couple bunches. The kids and I headed to the back area where the biggest box of flowers was overflowing with garbage bags full of beautiful bouquets. The kids were excited and dove in. They pulled out a couple fall inspired bouquets and even a dozen red roses. I asked the Volunteer Coordinator what they were going to do with all those flowers. He told me he'd asked and a few minutes later he returned and said that because they were closing for a couple days (bc of Thanksgiving) that unfortunately they'd be throwing them away. My response: "WHAT? We will pass them out to people on the street!" And so... an impromptu part of The Giving Tour ensued. We excitedly filled an entire shopping cart and 4 buckets full of flowers and plants. Yes-- after I started digging in the box I even found basil plants and calla lily plants. It was nuts! Hands full and pushing a shopping cart full of flowers we all headed to load up the car. We got even more excited as we thought about how many people we would impact with the flowers. I kept saying "We are going to make so many people smile!" I also started thinking about how people would react: Are they selling? Are they peddlers? Did they poison them? Who gives things for free? We couldn't pack the car up fast enough. We drove off with just enough room in the car for me and the kids. Literally packed to the brim.

Bouquest of flowers being loaded up

We decided to hit the center of town: The Santa Fe Plaza. On our way there Cayenne told us she wanted to give some flowers to Miss Michelle who is the librarian who hosted storytime for our last 4 weeks while in Santa Fe. We, of course had to oblige. It was the sweetest thing ever. Miss Michelle was nearly in tears as the sentiment quite obviously touched her heart. We passed out probably 10 other bouquets while in the library and the parking lot. People were so thankful.

Kids giving a away flowers in downtown Santa Fe, NM


Handing out flowers at the library

When we left the library I called up a couple people we had met while in Santa Fe so they could join in on the fun. Our storytime friends were excited to join us and met us at the Plaza. We actually ended up parking a couple blocks over. We took out a couple buckets from the car and put them on the sidewalk. It was pretty funny. At first most people avoided us as in crossing the street before they got to us. They must have thought I was one of those parents that guilts people into buying something by using my kids as salespeople. HA! The people that did walk by were pleasantly surprised. They went from "oh no, no, no" to "wait, what? Really? That is so nice of you. Thank you!" We would ask "Would you like some flowers? They are free. We just want to say Happy Thanksgiving." The look on peoples faces would go from a disgust-filled Ughhhh to a sentimental Awwww. Can you picture it? Their eyes literally would light up. It was priceless.

Giving out free flowers in Santa Fe Plaza

We stayed at the plaza for a couple hours and must have given away over 100 bouquets. It was an amazing feeling. We got responses like "You made my day! Thank you!" to others pulling out their wallets and we'd tell them "No, thank you- you don't owe us anything! Just a smile." Everyone was so grateful, people blushed and others walked away with mouths open in disbelief. One woman even came back out with flowers in hand as we headed back to the car empty handed to tell us " You made so many people happy today!" 

This is what it's about. It is about teaching our children the joy of giving. Happiness begets happiness. Kindness begets kindness. My sappy self is in tears just thinking about it. It was the most amazing thing to see my children (all three of them) run up to perfect strangers with flowers. They would talk to them, explain that we only want to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving and then they would come back to me with a face full of pride, a huge smile and an obviously full heart. They felt good about it. Niko loved it so much that he was worried we were going to run out of flowers. He kept telling me we need to go back to The Food Depot to get more flowers! He wanted EVERYONE to get flowers. He didn't want to leave one person out. I called: they were all gone or we would've gone back. 

It was incredible driving out of the Plaza and seeing countless people with their cellophane bags full of flowers glimmering in the sun. Just knowing we touched all those people in some way. We did a good thing today. I wish every day could be like this. It filled our heart with so much joy and gratitude. It made us all want to be nicer, more kind and giving in everything we do. Thank you to The Food Depot for allowing us to spread happiness and kindness into Santa Fe. Thank you for giving us our BEST DAY EVER!

Cayenne holding a sunflower

8 comments:

  1. Just beautiful! I love this :) what a special day

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  2. I could hardly read this because of the tears. Messin' up my makeup before work!

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  3. Paige, you and your family inspire me!!!

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    1. What an incredibly nice thing to say, Jane! Thank you! So glad you are with us on this adventure (with your feet up, of course ;)!

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  4. What an amazing way to spread happiness!!

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  5. I love your post! Great job. What a special day.

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