Day 15: Ask someone what their dreams and aspirations are

My fifteenth task in the 30 days of kindness challenge was to ask someone what their dreams and aspirations in life are.

The organizers of the bootcamp explained the challenge as this:

It isn’t everyday that someone walks up to you and asks you what they wish for in their life, and then listens, wholeheartedly, to your answer.  Today, remind people that they matter, that their dreams are important and that you believe in them.

I get the theory behind it, and in part, it may be true. I also feel that if someone trusts you enough to open up and share their dreams with you, that makes you more of a kindness recipient rather than a giver.

I am tweaking this one a bit because an uplifting story landed in my lap and I was grateful to hear all about it, so, as my "act of kindness" I am sharing it.

My friend Ian was selected as an ambassador for the Sunshine Foundation's Dreamlift Day. The organization arranges for kids with physical disabilities and life-threatening illnesses to be taken to Disneyland for the day.

They got to fly to California in a Tinker Bell plane, ride Pirates of the Caribbean; Indiana Jones; It's a Small World, eat churros, hang out with Goofy. Basically just submerge themselves in the magic of the Magic Kingdom.

Ian explained to me the utter joy and excitement on the kids faces and how at one point one of the team
leaders described him as "the biggest kid of all." (I wholeheartedly believe this and to picture it in my mind made my heart swell.)

He told me how the RCMP and Orange County Sheriffs were on hand to greet the group and make the kids feel like rockstars for a day. He explained that for many of these children, it was their first time going somewhere without their parents or guardians, giving them a day of independence.

He told me how when they landed at the airport, back from a whirlwind day at Disneyland, the parents/guardians of the children greeted them at the arrival gate crying with joy and appreciation.

What resonated with me the most was Ian saying "it changed my life."

I can see how it would.

To witness large groups of strangers coming together to make "dreams" come true has to have a positive impact in some way or another.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, aside from passing on this wonderful story, I was more of a kindness recipient today.

But this experience, in my eyes, is the epitome of what this bootcamp is all about.