Day 14

Today was about collaboration. It began as a day where I planned to accomplish two favors. Both favors involved helping those with cancer yet in two very different ways. One asked me to visit a young woman hospitalized for Leukemia. The second favor came to me via another new friend in Santa Barbara. She manages the Team in Training campaigns for her area which raise money for cancer research. A member of her team asked me to help coordinate her transportation to the UCLA bloodbank for a platelet donation. The only logistical limitation was the team member set to donate lived in Santa Barbara yet had no car. We brainstormed ideas for making the trip a reality. We settled on me picking her up at the train station and then dropping her off at the bloodbank while I visited my favor recipient with Leukemia. It seemed an ideal solution to ensure both favors occurred the same day.

Early that morning I received an email and a text message with the most wonderfully unexpected news. The original requester of the Leukemia patient visit told me her whole office was now going to be visiting their ill friend and that I did not need to go. Within moments, an email arrived in my Inbox from the woman in Santa Barbara saying she no longer needed a favor. Someone had heard through me mentioning the request to her team leader, the need for the ride to the bloodbank. It turned out someone from Santa Barbara already planned to visit the bloodbank the next day. In under 10 minutes two favors sent to me, now had others stepping-in to handle them. It was the most amazing moment when I realized the real "favor" had been my intention to ask how I may be helpful to another. The fact I did not actually personally do the specific favors was irrelevant. It was the motivation and desire to be kind which allowed for others to be kind as well. Only two weeks into my project and already I see and experience a tangible shift in other's perceptions and intentions. I wonder what tomorrow and the next two weeks will bring...I can't wait to see!