Wanda's Wish
The story of wanda's wish
On August 6th, 2014 we lost our beautiful mom. Though we suffered a tremendous loss on that August day, we recognize what a wonderful gift we were given by having had someone like Mom in our lives…and that gift remains with us. The gift of having known someone like Mom is difficult to describe because it’s so vast. It’s a gift of warmth and love. Of understanding and compassion. Of kindness and caring. And perhaps most importantly, it’s about the example she set of how to share of yourself, whole-heartedly, with the people around you and make the world a better place in the process.
Mom was someone who didn’t have much but was happy to share everything she had with those around her. She gave from the heart, and with a smile. Always.
She especially cared about children (as evidenced by her dedication as a preschool teacher for over 20 years – and as the best mom, sister, auntie and great-auntie in this galaxy). Her tenure at the daycare allowed her to spread her warm spirit and love with literally hundreds and hundreds of people; parents and children alike. Her gift wasn’t exclusive to the daycare, either. She simply cultivated an atmosphere of warmth and caring wherever she went; classes, meetings, even as a customer at a store she could bring out a smile and genuine connection with clerks (several businesses she frequented knew her by name.)
And perhaps it is a lesser-known fact that mom was also the recipient of some extremely generous and thoughtful giving too! On not one, but TWO occasions, mom received very sizable, anonymous cash gifts at Christmastime. We can be certain that she received such incredible gifts because it was easy for others to recognize what a special, wonderful, giving person she was.
It is in the spirit of this example that mom was to us and to so many, we, her daughters, have decided to celebrate Mom every year on her birthday by performing Random Acts of Kindness.
Mom’s birthday is February 22nd. We’ve decided that each year, on a Saturday near her birthday, we will get together with family and friends to do what mom did best – sprinkle warmth and happiness in as many ways as we can through Random Acts of Kindness.
BUT THAT’S NOT IT! It is our hope that you will help us celebrate our Mom on that weekend too; by spreading kindness of your own, in your own ways, however you can.
It is our dream that this will catch on and spread like wildfire so that people, far and near, will be smiling a little more, laughing a little longer and feeling a whole lot of warmth and love that weekend. And if we’re really lucky, it will last a whole lot longer than that!
THIS is absolutely the BEST way to CELEBRATE the BEAUTIFUL GIFT we have of our Mom’s memory.
We want this website to be a place of inspiration for one another just as we were inspired by our beautiful mom. Please spread the word and help us spread the love!
Much love and thanks to you all,
Jenn and Amy Smith