Abby's Birthday Project

Yesterday was Abby's 18th birthday and she decided to celebrate in a slightly different way. A few months ago we saw a post on pinterest called the Birthday Project. For her 38th birthday, Robyn Bomar decided to complete one random act of kindness for each of her 38 years, all on her birthday. She later wrote a blog post about it which went viral. Inspired by her giving, lots and lots of other people have copied Bomar's general idea with their own acts of kindness on their own birthdays. When Abby read about it, she was sold and the plans for her own birthday project began.

Here's what she did.

1. In the wee hours of the morning, she and Pedro went downtown with a bucket of sidewalk chalk and left some temporary graffiti. In various locations they wrote, "You Are Loved."

On the Liberty Bridge:

On Main Street:

While they were out vandalizing drawing they found someone's driver's license on the sidewalk, so she . . .

2. Put it in an envelope and mailed it back to the person.

Then we:

3. Left a bag of cookies in the mailbox for the mailman and a note that said, "Thanks for bringing our mail."

Then Grandma joined us and we:

4. Took flowers to a former teacher.

5. Took cookies to her brother and 6. a friend at school.

7. Went to Liquid Highway drive-through to get her free birthday coffee and gave the barista a large tip. 

8. Left some money with the barista to pay for the next customer. We would have done it ourselves, but nobody was in line behind us. 

9. Took breakfast to the homeless lady who sits in front of the old Fresh Market.

10. Went to the Dollar Tree and left dollar bills in the toy section.

11. Visited the lovely people at The Blood Connection and, 12. along with Grandma, donated blood.

13. Took a bag of cookies to her co-workers and bosses at Appalachian Outfitters.

14. Took a burrito and a cookie to David Howell, her youth minister.

15. Took a big Costco-sized box of wipes to the Meyer Center for Special Children because, evidently, they always need wipes.

16. Had lunch at Nosedive where Grandma paid for the table next to us. Instead of their check we had the waiter give them a card that said, "Today is my birthday and I'm celebrating by giving to others! Have a great day!" These are available at www.thebdayproject.com. They were quite surprised and wanted to hear all about what she was doing.

17. Took cookies to her co-workers in the Table 301 office.

18. Birthday dinner at Mellow Mushroom. Left server a 50% tip. Can you tell we have a special place in our heart for servers?

As Abby explained to the gentlemen whose lunch we bought, this was the most fun she had ever had on her birthday. Thanks, Robyn Bomar!