In Memory of Ryan

In February 1993 we lost our 5-year-old son Ryan from encephalitis from and unknown cause. You can read more about Ryan and what happened here.
http://ryzmomplus2.typepad.com/my_weblog/ryans-story.html
In two weeks on December 7th it would be Ryan’s 21st birthday and in memory of his birthday I wanted to do something sweet in a “pay it forward” way.

You see, last year I spent the week of Ryan’s birthday doing random acts of kindness in his memory. It felt good to give to someone else, no matter how small the act was.

What did I do? Several times I left an extra $5 (since he was 5 years old) at Starbucks, (or wherever I was picking up a drink or food) to pay for the next person in line. I’ve heard of people paying the toll for the person behind them, even a smile or holding the door… so many acts of kindness can go a long way for us all. The purpose is not for recognition, but randomly doing something to make someone else’s day a little brighter. (Because that was something Ryan always did)

Back to the reason for this note: I thought how special it would be to take a week, a day or a moment and do something for a random person in memory of this sweet 5-year-old boy.
So why not try it, I guarantee you’ll feel good about it!