Dianna's Dream Come True

Dianna's Dream Come True

Dianna woke up and looked at the clock.  She still had three more hours she could sleep but she was too excited.   Deciding that getting up was better than tossing and turning she headed downstairs and made a cup of coffee and sat down at her computer.   Today was going to be a great day...she hoped.  It was the day a long held dream was about to come true.

Dianna had always been quiet and thoughtful.  But she also had vision and passion guided by a firm belief that the world would be a better place if people were just kinder to one another.   She had practiced "paying it forward" all of her adult life.   Random acts of kindness, whether to strangers or to people she knew, whether anonymously or in person, she enjoyed doing for others.   Paying for the order of the person in line behind her at the drive thru, handing out McDonald's or Tim Horton's gift cards to homeless people she saw on the streets.  Once she even handed out gift cards to the men collecting garbage on her street.   It filled her soul to see the joy her actions brought and she always encouraged people to do the same for someone else.   

As she got older Dianna found that she wanted to spread the word about Random Acts of Kindness to people on a larger scale, but she wasn't sure how to go about it.  Painfully shy, with a chronic and acute social phobia, she knew that she would never be able to get up in front of people and talk about her experiences.   She had written a book and talked about it there, but the book wasn't well distributed and only a few friends had read it.

The opportunity to enlighten others came to her in an unexpected way.   She had attended the First Unitarian Church a few times with her new girlfriend, Anna.   Last November Anna was taking part in the Fall Festival  and would be performing a musical number.   Dianna planned to attend.   Anna told her there would a be large auction and she brought home the catalogue of all the things that would auctioned that night.  Some of it was silent auction, but there was also a live auction.   One item in particular caused Dianna's heart to leap in to her throat.   A sermon was available for purchase at the auction. The winner would be allowed to have the minister write and deliver a sermon on a topic of their choice.   Dianna's mind raced with the possibilities.  What better way to get her vision out there and inspire others than by having it read from the pulpit!   She decided that she absolutely had to win this sermon!

On the night of the Festival Dianna was beside herself with excitement.   While she enjoyed the performances, she couldn't stop thinking about the live auction and whether or not she would actually win the sermon.   She had it all planned out.  She knew exactly what she wanted that sermon to be about and how she wanted it organized.   Setting herself a rather high limit for bidding, she was ready to win.  Finally the time came and she bid...higher and higher and higher.   Eventually it was down to just one person and herself.  She was getting even more anxious as the bidding came closer to her limit.  She couldn't lose this!  It was a chance of a lifetime. 

  

"Do I hear $500?"  the auctioneer shouted.  Dianna raised her hand.

"....$550...?"    her opponent raised his hand.

Her limit was $600! She was going to lose!  Diana felt the tears welling up.  She couldn't go past her limit....and yet...

"Do I hear $600.00"  Dianna's hand shot into the air along with her hopes and dreams.    She held her breath and looked at the man who was bidding against her.   Time seemed to stand still.....

"Going once.....going  twice....."   Dianna's heart was beating so loudly she could hardly hear the auctioneer.   Please, please, please...she thought.

"SOLD!!  For $600.00

She had won!!   There were no words to describe how she felt at that moment

.

And that is how she ended up sitting in her chair at 530 a.m. on a Sunday in April. Today was the day the sermon would be read.   And Anna, who was still sleeping peacefully upstairs, was going to be leading the service.   Anna had agreed to read something that she, Dianna had written.  

Finally the time came to leave for church.  They picked up their friend Liz on the way.  Anna managed to get her own anxiety under control  enough to help Dianna not dissolve into a puddle of anxiety.   She and Liz joked and gabbed all the way to church in an effort to distract her.   It didn't really help, but she loved Anna for trying.

As people filed in to the church Dianna began to despair that not many people were in attendance.  But Dianna reassured her that Unitarians were notoriously late and that they would all come in when the bell rang.   She tried to relax and focus on the service. 

The whole service from start to finish was wonderful.  The minister did an excellent job in creating a message of hope and kindness that Dianna felt she had written herself.  In fact she had quoted some passages from Dianna's own book.   It was finally out there, her vision of people paying it forward and carrying out random acts of kindness, was about to be realized.    The congregation was challenged to do three random acts of kindness.   Even the children were encouraged to do the same.  The minister gave them each a loonie and a toonie.  The loonie was to keep for themselves and the toonie was to use to do something nice for someone else...someone that was not a family member.  

After the service, many people came up to Dianna and thanked her for suggesting such an excellent topic, and it seemed as though people were quite receptive to the challenge that was put down for them.   It made Dianna feel wonderful. 

After church Dianna, Anna and Liz went out for brunch.   Dianna was feeling totally exhilarated and also profoundly relieved that it was over and had been received well.  She looked forward to the service in May when people would be asked to share the random acts they had carried out.