Street Roots – 1,000 Mitzvahs

A candle in the darkness

Had to share this wonderful mitzvah we received today. This morning my husband and I went to breakfast downtown, a rare treat for us. We arrived at the small well known breakfast cafe and realized that there would be quite a wait. I tried to approach the hostess to ask how long the wait would be. He was quite busy and didn’t have time to answer the question. A minute or so later he came back over and told us a little secret, grab the first seats at the counter. That’s what the regulars do. After we had placed our order he came over again and brought us one of their special muffins compliments of the “Chamber of Commerce of the Cafe”. I asked him if it was okay if I wrote about him on my blog and thanked him for both the secret for faster service and the wonderful muffin he gave us.

924) After breakfast, Aaron and I walked to the local bookstore where we stopped to buy a Streetroots newspaper. The vendor told us there was an article about him in the paper. We went into the store and I read the article. It talked about how he lived in the woods and how a candle is the one item that helps him keep away the loneliness that sets in when he is in the darkness at night. I told Aaron I wanted to buy him some candles and amazingly the bookstore actually sold a package of them. When we brought them out to him he was visible touched. He told us we had no idea how much he appreciated the gift.

Sometimes kids do the most amazing things…

237) Gave my daughter some money to purchase a Street Roots paper at the Farmer’s Market.

238) Brought a meal to someone recovering at home from a recent surgery.

239) Received my photos back from last week when my daughter and her friend had their lemonade stand. I had mentioned that I had a dear childhood friend that I had done the same thing with when I was 9. What I hadn’t mentioned was that my childhood friend died when we were 20 from cancer. I think about her often and decided to send a note and a copy of one of the pictures to her mom to tell her how this event had made me start thinking about her daughter.

240) Today, my 6 year old son did the most amazing thing. We have a neighbor whose wife died this past year. He has never been a particularly friendly neighbor and it was always his wife who was the outgoing and friendly one. My son came into the house after biking and seeing him and said he wanted to draw a picture and give it to him. My son wrote a note , and drew a picture of himself and the neighbor. The note said, “I know your wife died and you are sad, will you be my friend?” I was so touched by his wanting to befriend our neighbor. So far the neighbor hasn’t answered him, perhaps at some point he will…

Good bye Porter…

Yesterday, Porter, our sweet Cavalier King Charles, died. We have had him since he was 8 weeks old and got him prior to both of my children being born. It comes not as a complete surprise since this breed does suffer from heart ailments and he has been watched by a cardiologist for over a year now. However, it doesn’t make it easier to loose such a sweet and lovable part of our family. My house feels very empty without his little face around. Almost immediately after Porter died I kept thinking what can I do to turn this sadness into a mitzvah.

181) The only thing I have come up with so far is to send a note to the breeder (now a friend). I shared with her how much she has helped us over the past decade as we raised our first dog. She is an amazing, caring and compassionate person and I wrote her a thank you note to tell her that. Any other mitzvahs anyone has done when a pet has died?

Also, I am so grateful to all of the friends and family from near and far who have called to extend their thoughts about our loss. People may not realize how welcome a phone call can be at such a time, but it is truly a mitzvah.

182) Donated to the Street Roots vendor outside of a book store today.

183) Picked up some litter outside of a community center where the kids were taking a class.

Who likes Wednesdays… I love them.

65) Donated to our public broadcasting station – OPB.

66) Visited the Rebbetzin, last week was her anniversary so I picked up some flowers in a lovely pitcher to give to her. She told me to keep the pitcher and she put the flowers in another pitcher, on the way out the door she told me to fill the pitcher again and do another mitzvah.

67) Bought some more flowers and gave them to another friend who is working so hard on our school auction.

68) Gave money to a vendor selling Street Roots, a local paper that publishes in Portland and is part of an International organization of street papers. I had never taken the time to read the paper until a week ago. I am committed to giving a dollar or two to any vendor I see selling the paper. The vendors are homeless or low income men and women who get to keep $.70 on each paper they sell.