MISSION: Triple the Kindness

September 17 is a special day.  It's my dad's birthday.  My dad is one of the greatest loves of my life, so September 17 is a day I like to celebrate.  It's also the day that Affiliated Agent K of San Francisco decided to complete three missions of kindness. 

It's like she knew it was my dad's birthday.

Date: Friday, 17 September 2010

Location: various; San Francisco, CA

Time: throughout the day

I love butterflies; I think they’re beautiful and cheery little fellows.  I collect anything and everything with butterflies.  So I knew whatever I decided to do for my first mission, butterflies had to be a part of it.  Awhile back, I had found these adorable butterfly print gift bags that had matching note cards, and I knew they would be perfect for this. 

The hardest part, for me, was deciding on what to put in the gift bag.  I am not a very artistic/creative type person at all, so I decided to think about things that brighten my day or inspire me.  Other than butterflies, I’m a big quote lover, so I was completely stoked when I came across these little pads called InspireNotes. 

These little note pads are not only eco-friendly and practical, but they have these great little quotes on them too.  I wasn’t completely sure what to write in the card, but I decided on a quote by Scott Adams which I hope inspires the receiver to continue my ripple.  I also incorporated two of the quotes from the pad, these two quotes are to remind the receiver that the world is filled with beauty and that you have to savor life’s moments…two things which are easy to forget in this frenzied, go-go world. 

So I put together everything and had three little bags ready to go.  I decided that September 17th was going to be my mission day.

Today was a perfect mission day; I had to drive my boss to a car rental agency to pick-up a car.  It was a two hour adventure to drive 11 miles, pick up a car, and drive 11 miles back to work.  The line was long and everyone was cranky, so I decided to leave one of the three bags somewhere around this car rental place.  It was almost 1pm as we walked to the parking garage; I noticed a bench, so I quickly placed the bag on the bench, snapped a quick picture and continued on my way.  My boss was like, “What did you just do?” And I said, “I left a gift.” No explanation was asked for or given; it was great the way she just rolled with it.

I left the second bag in my doctor’s waiting room; I thought it could cheer someone up, no one really likes going to the doctors.   However, I left the bag at 4pm (on a Friday) and when I left the office at 5pm it was still there…so I wonder if anyone found it. 

My third bag couldn’t have been placed better.  I was at Castro and 17th Street. There’s a bench right outside of a pizza place. I sat down and waited for a calm moment (it was 5pm and people were getting off of work).  A bus came, red lights hit, the sidewalk cleared, so I quickly stood, snapped a picture and walked away.  I walked a couple of businesses up the street to where the bus stop was and waited for my bus, I saw an older woman go and sit at the bench opposite of the one I had been at (there are two benches flanking the door to the pizza place).   A bunch of people were walking by, the woman was sitting at the second bench and nobody made a play for this bright, colorful gift bag.  Finally a bus came, two tourist women got off and walked toward my bench, they looked at the bag, chatted with the older woman and gave her the bag and walked away.  The older woman was sitting with her back to me, so I have no idea what happened next, I just hopped on my bus and came home. 

It was exciting to plan and implement but I realized I’d never make a great real-life Secret Agent.   I has fun and I hope that every time they use this little pad, they remember the day they got it and it brings a smile to their face.