Andy Smallman

Enough of this 50th birthday nonsense! What we need is Metric Birthdays!

Instead of counting in years, we’d count in months. Big celebrations come at 10 months, 100 months, etc.

Get this, you’d be eligible to get your license on your 200 month, vote at 225, and drink at 250. 50 years wouldn’t be such a big deal (other than it equals 600 months, a nice number), but 500 months might be. And imagine the celebrations you could have for 1000 months!

At lunch today Melinda called these “Metric Birthdays.” Together, we figured Ella has a big one coming up in August this summer, 200 months. It was her 16th birthday last December but it got lost in the end-of-the-year holidays, like happens to her birthday every year. But on August 18th she’ll be 200 months old, a Metric Birthday!

What we need to throw for Ella is a “Sweet 200 Month Party!”

As a wrap-up to all the focus I’ve given my 50th birthday, I salute Metric Birthdays. Included today is a photo taken in our backyard tonight, my family on my 600th month!

Ella took this photo just a minute ago at my parents’ apartment. We’re over here right now in advance of heading out to dinner with a large group of family and extended family members.

My niece Jessica, who celebrated her birthday 3 days ago (remember that post?), is in town with her husband, Vince. Vince wanted to surprise Jessica with a get-together with family members in the Seattle area during her birthweek (there’s that term again). Tonight’s dinner is the result.

Back to this photo. It’s of my mom and me, in case you can’t tell, and it was taken to be included in an article being written about my work at PSCS and with kindness by Penzey’s Spices. They asked for some recipes, too, and I tapped my mom for help. After I completed my interview, they asked for a photo of my mom and me.

Got it? 🙂

So you could say I’ve been enlisting some partners today. That’s good, considering today’s theme in the 12 Days of Kindness is to enlist a partner.

So a couple of days ago I mentioned the concept of birthweek presents. As I was driving home from school today I was thinking about that again, and also got to thinking about those things that are just provided on a regular basis that, like a present, are pretty darn nice things to have.

An example? A public library.

So today I gratefully accept as one of my birthweek presents all public libraries. Just think about them. You go in and for no money at all you come out with books, and movies, and CDs. And they let you sit down inside and warm up, use their computers, and have a quiet place to think. That’s a heck of a present.

Speaking of great presents, two years ago Celeste, seen in today’s photo, made a big bowl of mousse au chocolat on my 48th birthday. I like chocolate mousse so much it might be even better than a public library. That’s saying something.

Another nice thing? Reaching out to someone with whom you’ve lost touch.

Many of you know I am a sports fan. What you might not know is that being a sports fan in Seattle carries with it a fair amount of pain. For instance, it’s 10pm and I’m just barely home from an over 12 hour day at PSCS. I’m tired and ready to wind down, perhaps even catch the tail end of the Mariners’ baseball game.

They are behind 11-0.

Ah, sweet agony.

On the cerebral side of being a Mariners’ fan there is this blog called U.S.S. Mariner. The authors there really know what it’s like to be a Mariners’ fan. Their posts, regardless of how well (poorly) the team is playing, are consistently interesting.

Take this entry called “Moments of Worth.” It’s got some good life advice built right in. So what if the Mariner’s lost yesterday’s game because the pitcher dropped the ball while covering first base? Moments earlier he had struck out a batter with a nasty curveball. Focus on the nasty curveball. It’s a “moment of worth.”

Take a look at this photo of adorable Ella. It’s another “moment of worth,” complete with a single word of advice.

Speaking of advice, here is some good advice from the 12 Days of Kindness.

Get a load of this picture. The little girl in the picture turned 28 today. She’s my niece, Jessica. And you guessed it, that’s me dancing with her.

Heck, you’d probably look like Jessica does in this picture if you were dancing with me. Cut her some slack.

This picture must date from 1986 or so, taken soon after I shaved off my full beard that I’d had for several years. I also wore contacts at the time. What a punk.

And just think of it. If the picture was taken in 1986 then I’ve more than doubled my age. And Jessica, well, let’s just say that she’s more than doubled her age, too.

I went looking for a photo of Jessica and me to use on the blog tonight, hoping it would connect to today’s theme in the 12 Days of Kindness (click to find out what it is — you might find something wonderful, like a photo of you dancing with your niece).

What do you think of this concept, birthweek presents? I mean we’ve all heard of birthDAY presents, but birthWEEK presents spread the joy out over the whole week, right? A present every day for the week leading up to your birthday. Heck, if this catches on I may promote birthMONTH presents, maybe even birthYEAR presents (in which you get a present every day for a year!).

In honor of it being my birthweek, I’m showing off something I bought for myself and arrived in the mail on Friday. It’s an original T-shirt from the 1970’s of the Omaha Knights, the hockey team I adored in the early 70’s when my family lived in, you guessed it, Omaha.

I saw this beauty on eBay and won it, once again prompting Melinda to suggest she should head down to her favorite clothing store to “win” something.

If you’re thinking buying yourself birthweek presents is a bit indulgent, I understand. Perhaps it would be better to do something kind for a stranger, today’s theme in the 12 Days of Kindness.

That was the last line in the series finale on Thursday night from the American TV show “The Office.” It’s also my basic life philosophy, the importance of being awed by the regular stuff.

For instance, I glanced out our living room window this morning and saw a mom holding onto the bicycle seat of her small daughter, then running alongside the bike, pushing the seat, to help it gain momentum. A second later, she let go and her daughter was riding a two-wheeler by herself. Ah, a metaphor for parenting, all wrapped up in the ordinary moment of helping your child learn to ride a bike. The mom then ran behind the bike until her daughter slowed to a stop. She caught up, then did it all again.

That’s awesome. And I got to see it.

My niece Stephanie sent me the embedded video below. It has the same message as the last line in “The Office,” as well as summing up the purpose of PSCS, the root of my kindness classes, and what makes me tick.

Say, in terms of ordinary things, how about doing something kind for an acquaintance today?

So tonight is a big event at PSCS, the school Melinda & I founded in 1994. It’s the Student Showcase, a time for us to display as many of the incredible things that students have done this year as we can. There is music and art and essays and everything.

Of course, the most important work the students do can’t be seen because it goes on inside of them.

Speaking of important work, take a look at this photo. Melinda’s parents, Dwight & Michele, are pretty much responsible for all of it. They created Melinda and Brenda, who themselves created Chloe, Ella & Perrin. Well, I helped create Chloe and Ella, and Greg helped create Perrin. But I trust you get my point.

So here’s to important work!

Like doing something kind in your neighborhood, today’s theme in the 12 Days of Kindness.

Today’s theme in the 12 Days of Kindness is to “Surprise Someone” and boy did I get a nice surprise earlier this week. A card came for me at school that included a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble and a note that said:

Dear Andy, I found your school website in looking for kindness organizations. Your mission and approach to education are inspirational. Thank you for the work you do!

How cool is that?? 🙂

Say, Melinda & I are trying to get 1000 Likes on our Kind Living page on Facebook. If you’re willing, please spread the word. We’re up to 907 as I post this.

We’ve also been hoping to get to 1000 subscribers to our Kind Living eNewsletter but that seems a bit harder. Every time we get a couple of new subscribers, we also get a couple unsubscribing. Right now we are at 823.

Here’s another picture from Sunday night’s combined Mother’s Day/Melinda’s 50th Birthday Party at her parents’ house. The star is there in the center, of course, flanked by Ella and me. Chloe was present for the party but not for this photo, unfortunately. It’s rare for the four of us to be in the same photo, what with her in college and gone most of the year.

Clearly, you will have noticed I am using this blog a little differently than I have been for the last couple months. I’m back posting about the goings-on of my family for the time being. I’m doing this for two reasons. One, I’m interested in hearing from those of you who follow this blog about what you prefer – my philosophical thoughts or scenes from my life. Please let me know, okay?

The second reason is to further promote the 12 Days of Kindness. Today’s theme is to Clean Up.