Daily Deeds of Goodness

A guy on crutches approaches the doors of the JKB and pulls it open, attempting to catch it on his good foot and sidle through, but he misses. I jump forward and snag the handle before the door actually hits him and pull it all the way open so that he can enter. Another guy had attempted to do the same thing, but I beat him to it, so he moved past me to grab the second door (you know, it never occurred to me that all those double doors that are so great for temperature control must be the bane of existence for anyone in less than standard physical condition). “Good job,” the guy says as I pass him through the door he’s holding for me, “there was your good deed for the day.”

I might point out that he was fairly attractive, so it got the warm fuzzies going at a pretty decent rate, but the comment still struck me as odd. I almost never think of accomplishing a good deed every day. Not that I think I don’t do something nice for at least one person everyday; I just never bother to keep a tally. I do, however, keep a tally of the nice things other people do for me. And today, even though it’s still fairly early, I’ve had a lot of people do good deeds for me.

As days go, this one did not start out well. I spent a big chunk of yesterday preparing for the two presentations (yeah… two. Stupid conflicting class schedules…) I had today, then I spent a little bit of time pleasure reading to allow my brain to take a break without going kaput (you know how, when you overexert yourself, you’re not supposed to just sit down, because it’s bad for you? Yeah, same idea behind the reading. It’s a mental cool-down lap around the track – works for me anyway) and went to bed. Still too late, I might add. I’m expecting my body to give out on me any minute now. I desperately need more sleep.

Now, I have a class at 9. I had a presentation in that class. I woke up at 9:10. Cue start of horrible day right there.

Enter Good Deed #1. Savannah was up studying and thankfully, she hadn’t needed to babysit her niece this morning. When I stumbled out of my room all frantic, bleary-eyed, messy-haired, and muttering every non-swear-word expletive I could think of (under my breath, of course -- what came out was more along the lines of "IneedarideIhaveapresentationgoingonRIGHTNOW! *insert undertones of panic here*) she snapped into action and consented to drive me to school. Dropping everything to go get the car started while I dressed and snatched up what I could remember needing, she was ready to get me to school as fast as possible and managed to add in some talking to soothe my nerves. She’s such a saint. She even endured a crabby biker-cop who tried to tell both of us off for going too fast in the parking lot (um… define “too fast.” There were no other cars, there’s no posted speed limit, and she probably didn’t even break 10mph).

I may or may not deserve to get in trouble for running away from a cop, but as soon as he turned his attention to Savannah, I dashed off through the doors of the building, hoping desperately that I wasn’t about to tumble into the room in the middle of my group’s presentation. My sincerest apologies to Savannah for leaving her to deal with Mr. GrumpyPants alone. And can I say that I’m super glad people don’t come with license plates? He can’t hope to ever identify me again. Especially since wild-eyed-and-frazzled isn’t my normal look.

Good Deed #2. Luckily my professor was showing a video clip, so I slipped as unobtrusively into class (hearing an audible sigh of relief from my group-mates) as I could, and sat down to work out some kinks in the presentation that waking up late had caused. Since obviously I couldn’t print off a copy of the quiz I was going to distribute, I had to incorporate it into the presentation instead. Anyway, my phone buzzed, and Savannah sent me a text asking me if I wanted her to bring my makeup or anything else to finish getting ready. I told her where to find the necessary items and there she was, waiting cheerfully for me outside my class with the items and a hug. Thanks, Savannah. You’re a lifesaver. (Confession, I’m actually still sans-makeup because I haven’t had the time to put any on, so don’t look too closely at me if you see me today.)

Good Deed #3. I called my mom to vent, because I was still stressed after my first presentation and needed someone to talk me out of my impending panic attack. She obliged, and, like her usual awesome self, she not only calmed me down and reassured me that she didn’t think I was a failure, but actually distracted me into talking about things that are infinitely more relaxing to think about. Like the temple. I pretty much forgot about freaking out when we started talking about that. Go mom.

Good Deed #4. My second presentation went significantly better than the first (for one thing, I’m almost always far more knowledgeable about editing and publishing than I am about Shakespeare’s rhetorical conventions), and the remainder of that class was made better by Chris giving me a brown paper bag with a lunch in it. He said he’d made two, not realizing at the time that I’d arrive in class without having had the time to get something to eat. He wanted to do something to make my day better, so that was the best way he could think of. I actually have money on my ID card, and could have gotten a lunch myself, but it was the thought that really made the difference. And it is nice to have the money for something else now. So thanks to Chris, too.

So yeah. Remember what I said about friends? They’re pretty awesome. I’d fail at life completely if I didn’t have them around.