BE Inspired

Letter #2 of a series...

Lesson #2: Give freely, generously, and sometimes anonymously.

Dear Future Grandchildren,

When your Aunt Kelly/Mom and Uncle Jake/Dad were very little (before Aunt Cassie/Mom was born), we would occasionally receive small gifts for them in our mailbox from an anonymous source. This went on for about two years and we never figured out who the giver was until one day when we noticed a post-it note stuck on the bottom of a package of matchbox cars (I hope they still exist, but if not -google it). The note was from our neighbor Mrs. S to her plumber. Mrs. S was the older widow living alone across the street from us and clearly, that post-it note got stuck on the box by accident.

Our secret giver was revealed and we were shocked! We barely knew Mrs. S other than the occasional sighting when she was coming or going. We immediately wanted to thank her for her generosity, but then thought that if she had wanted us to know her identity she would not have given the gifts anonymously. So, we kept her secret. Soon after, we moved out of that neighborhood into a bigger home and the secret gifts stopped arriving accordingly.

A few years later, we read Mrs. S’s obituary in our local newspaper (google it). We felt so sad and maybe a tad guilty that we never got to say thank you to her in person so we decided to write her son a condolence card. In it, we told him about her anonymous gifts and how her kindness really touched us. To our surprise and delight, he wrote back. He said it should be him that was thanking us. He knew about the gifts and new why his mom gave them.

From a chair near her front window, Mrs. S. could apparently, see Kelly and Jake playing in our front yard. {Note: Our house was very small so we actually played outside a lot! I hope you play outside a lot too!} Per her son, she loved watching them, but moreso, she loved that when she waved at them- they waved back. Their innocent friendliness gave her so much joy! He said she was very lonely so seeing them really brightened her day. We were flabbergasted. We never knew.

After finding this out, I decided to honor Mrs. S by leaving anonymous gifts for people who I thought might need their days brightened. I started in 2001 by giving to families of 9/11 victims in our town. I left them stuffed animals, books, candy, and inspirational gifts.

Later, I switched to secret giving during the holidays to anyone I felt might need a pick me up….an older women in the neighborhood who I watched struggle to get down her front path to get her mail each day; a recently widowed man who now only had the company of his beloved yellow lab (yes, I left gifts for the dog too!); and a woman in town who was battling a tough case of cancer- to name a few. I left all the gifts anonymously and it’s amazing how liberating and wonderful that felt. You don’t need to get credit…the act of gifting is what brings you happiness!

The only person that knew about my secret gifting (until now) is Aunt Cassie/Mom. I told her about it once and she wanted to help so during our last few years in Basking Ridge she was my assistant. We had a lot of laughs as we turned our headlights off, slowly drove up to a mailbox, carefully tossed the gifts in, and then sped off!

The act of giving is so powerful! I love to give freely, generously, and sometimes anonymously. I know Aunt Cassie/Mom will continue my tradition of secret giving, but I hope you will too!

Love,

Nana XXOO