A Very Lucky Girl

You think I was gonna take that bullet and plaster her age across the Internets for all to see? You've got jokes! Shari Nelson Arceneaux, my beautiful mother, is XX today. And yes, I do mean 20 in roman numerals. Born August 7 to William and Sharon Nelson, Shari flourished as she grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, attending high school with her future husband, Paul Arceneaux (one of these days I'll blog about that volatile high school relationship. You'll read in rapt attention). She graduated and moved to the land of the horned frogs, Fort Worth, Texas, to study nursing at Texas Christian University and join the Delta Delta Delta sorority chapter. Unlike myself, she spent all four years of college in Texas heat and went on to have a successful career in nursing in several states nationwide. She's faithfully followed my father in every move our family had to make, keeping her complaints to herself or behind closed doors. She's reared two decent kids (we're works...

So I've been trying this new thing where I make a genuine effort to be truly nice to people, just for the sake of kindness. Not because of what they can do for me.  It's out of character. I'm intensely selfish by nature. So I'm issuing myself a challenge this summer. I challenged myself last summer, but it was an entirely different kind of challenge. I like this one better. I want to demonstrate a Random Act of Kindness to someone every day (this is where you go "ohhh now I understand her title!") during these next few sweltering months. Friends, strangers, annoying customers at Jamba Juice, kindness knows no discrimination. I've been struck lately that you never really know what's happening in someone else's life. And for that reason, being hateful has the power to be doubly damaging.  I don't even want to single damage. A single kind word or action flips my days and I'd love to make other people feel the same. It takes 21 days to form...