Loving like Lala!

January 14, 2006. 7 years ago today, my best friend and mom lost her battle to Leukemia but won her fight. Her reward was entering the gates of Heaven forever.
                                     
Each year, I'm typically pretty sad on this day. Last night, I cried a lot knowing that it was here. But then I thought about it- why should I be sad? My mom was the most loving and caring person that I ever knew, and she was never afraid to tell people that she loved them or cared about them. She lived her life to the fullest every single day. She loved Christ and she loved her family and friends, and everyone knew it. There shouldn't be sadness! There should be rejoicing in her amazing life.
                                   

So I decided that today, instead of being sad, I would focus on her loving and caring spirit. I decided to do this by doing 7 loving or caring things today. I originally thought I would do them for strangers, but then I changed my mind. I decided I wanted the people in my life to know that I loved and cared about them, and I would do these things for them. I didn't want the things to be anything grand or wonderful, just simple little things that would show I cared.
                                 

Here's what I came up with:

1. Bring my best friend at work a Diet Cherry Coke to start her day off. It's her favorite drink, and I knew it'd make her smile.
2. Bring my planning teachers a chickfila biscuit for breakfast. Usually on Mondays we are running around like crazy people, and we all forget about breakfast. I wanted them to start off with a yummy breakfast, and what's better than a chickfila breakfast?
3. Mail 3 cards to 3 of my best friends in Alabama telling them how much they mean to me. They are written and addressed and will be dropped off at the post office this afternoon! (Hopefully they don't read this and see it before they get them!)
4. Text my Dallas besties and tell them how much they mean to me, why I treasure their friendship, and how important our friendship is... as well as wish them a great week!
5. Tell each of my classes how proud I am of them. I have had a lot of them for 2, even 3, years, and I want them each to know how proud I am of what they have accomplished in our time together.
6. Buy flowers for my roommate and leave them in her room with a note telling her how thankful I am to have her as a roommate and a friend!
7. Send each of my 3 siblings a note telling them how much I love them and how proud of each of them I am.
                              
7 simple things. 7 things that for the most part, were free. I will say that sitting down and thinking of 7 things that I could do for other people really helped to lift my spirits. It helped me to remember my mom and what a wonderful person she was. It was fun to see people's responses and how happy they all were that I took the time to tell them those things.
                                     
So I encourage you to do- go out and love like my lala did. It's amazing how good of a day you have when you take the time to love the people around you! If you knew my mom, go out and do 7 things in her memory. Love like Lala. If you didn't know her, do 7 things anyway! It's a great way to think about others instead of yourself, and to really lift up those around you!