A Suitcase Full of Kindness
How Many Kindness Gifts Can You Find In Today's Story?
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~ Aesop
My husband and I just got home from a 12 day trip to Indiana and Kentucky. He’s a Hoosier. It’s a long time to be away with just a carry on suitcase for each of us. I became intimately acquainted with the contents of mine. Twelve days, 6 hotels.🏨 Ooftah.
We made some great memories on the trip. Fortunately, those just get packed away in our brains,🧠 not our suitcases.
We also picked up little gifts 🎁 everywhere we went. Not the kind you get in the souvenir shop… these were gifts of kindness that were given to us… some from people we knew, others from complete strangers.
Maybe you can help count all the gifts of kindness we received. Look for the 🎁’s and add them up!
It all began in Phoenix, the first leg of our trip. The water in our hotel had been shut off for some emergency repair. It was back on within a half hour. As a ‘thank you for your patience’, the hotel clerk gave us 2 very large chocolate chip cookies. 🍪🍪 Yum. 🎁
After a long flight and a 2+ hour drive 🚗 we arrived at our next hotel… Fort Wayne, Indiana. We probably looked pretty bedraggled when we walked in. 89 degrees. 87% humidity. The clerk gave us 2 bottles of water and a big smile. 🎁
At breakfast the next morning, we sat next to a serviceman in uniform. Bill said, “Thank you for your service.” “My pleasure,” the serviceman said. That started a fun conversation with him about where he was from and his job in the army. Then he gave us a heads up about the weather… potential storms coming into the area. Time to get the umbrellas out! 🎁
Later we stopped at the local Kroger. Bill was looking, unsuccessfully, for some Lavosh. He asked an employee….who turned out to be the brand new assistant manager. He thanked Bill for asking for his help because he said, “This is a great way for me to learn where everything is in the store. Let’s go find it together!” 🎁
Our next stop was south, in Carmel, Indiana. Bill’s old college fraternity brother, George, had organized a 16 player golf tournament when he heard that we were flying back to visit. It was a lot of work, but George wanted to do something special to thank us for coming all the way from Arizona. This was the same friend who gave us hibiscus seeds that I wrote about in After 21 Club. 🎁
Bill left his clubs at home. It was just too far to haul them. One of his friends, Beau, (a former golf instructor) gave Bill his driver to use for the round. He told Bill that he thought it would fit his swing. It did. 🎁
From Carmel we continued south to the beautiful West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick Indiana. (Home to Larry Bird, for you basketball fans) We were beat, having spent an extra hour stuck on interstate 65 due to construction.
The next morning, we returned from an early walk to discover that our room had already been cleaned and refreshed. Bill found the maid partway down the hallway and when he tried to give her $5, she didn’t want to take it. She said she was just happy she could help. 🎁
On our second day we took a half hour walk from our hotel to the sister hotel, the French Lick Resort. After we climbed the steps to the hotel, I was feeling a little faint. Heat and humidity.
I saw a women with a plastic bottle of water and asked her where she got it. She said it was in her room, but she thought I might get one at the front desk.
A few minutes later, when I went inside to go ask for water, the same woman appeared with 2 bottles of water and handed them to me. She had gone to the front desk and asked for them, then she had come looking for me. I felt like hugging her! 🎁
We had booked 3 nights at West Baden. You can probably see why by the pictures. Unfortunately, the hotel had been bombarded by softball sized hail a couple of weeks earlier and their famous glass domed ‘Atrium’ was closed to guests. We learned that the manager had ‘comped’ us a free night for the ‘inconvenience’. Who does that? 🎁
From French Lick we headed south and across the Ohio River into Louisville, Kentucky to stay at the Hotel Distil with its well known restaurant, The Repeal. We were meeting friends for a tour of Angel’s Envy Distillery, just a few blocks from the hotel. During the 45 minute tour, our guide offered to take pictures with our phones so we’d have a fun memory of our visit. 🎁
Later that evening we met up with our friends for dinner at The Repeal. The waiter noticed that Bill’s lobster looked a little small, so he disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a second entire lobster tail. No extra charge. 🎁
That same waiter brought me a plate of bourbon soaked cherries after I commented that the one in my Amaretto Sour cocktail was so delicious. 🎁
We left Louisville, full and grateful, driving back north to our hotel near the Indianapolis International Airport.
While checking in, Brian, the clerk at the Fairfield Inn, saw Bill dig through a big jar filled mostly with Double Bubble gum and a few tootsie rolls. He disappeared into the back room and reappeared with a tootsie roll for Bill. 🎁
Maurice, our shuttle van driver from our hotel in Indianapolis, came to the hotel early (we’re talking about 4:30am) so Bill and I could be sure to get to the airport on time for our flight. He said, “I’m happy to do it.” 🎁
Back in Phoenix, The Parking Spot (where we had parked our car for 12 days), had installed a large, clear refrigerator full of water at the check out lane. You could simply open the frig and take a couple of waters for the road, no charge. At 115 degrees in Phoenix, we were really glad to have those waters for our 2+ hour drive back up the hill to Prescott. 🎁
That was the end of our 12 day adventure. Did you add up all the gifts 🎁 of kindness? How many did you notice? Post your answer in the Comments.
And that’s really the thing about kindness. You may not always have a 🎁 to help you keep track. But if you keep your eyes and heart open, you will definitely see so many that you would need an extra large suitcase to pack them all up.
And the scientific benefits of all this kindness? Ongoing release of serotonin and oxytocin, giving you a sense of happiness. Lowered heart rate. Increased sense of calm and reduction of depression. The chance to live longer and be healthier. Ripples of kindness that spread to others. May the kindness gifts just keep on coming.
May your week be filled with kindness. 💚
⭐I’d like to invite you to check out my new newsletter, the After 21 Club. I describe it as “A sweet retreat where Friday meets you on the way to life's little pleasures. Reviews, recommendations, and thoughts to share from multiple generations.” I hope you will visit and sign up, if you wish. I’m excited to have a community of multiple generations coming together. I’m still working out the format, so I’d love to get your ideas! Articles come out on Fridays.⭐
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I found 16 gifts of kindness in Heather's story. Since math is my weakest subject, it's possible my answer might be incorrect. However, I did my best to count.
Sounds like you had a great trip Heather! I counted 15 acts of kindness! Really renews a person’s faith in humanity when we experience other peoples compassion! Great article!