Just this past Thursday, I threw a surprise birthday party for my boyfriend! My boyfriend has a summer birthday and has never celebrated with his friends in Boston, where we both go to school. With his upcoming birthday being his big 21st birthday, I really wanted to do something for him before all our friends went back home for the summer. I wanted to host a backyard bbq at my house since he loves his burgers! I texted his friends to see what date worked best for everyone and once we settled on a date, I started planning the logistics. The date that worked best for all our friends was the last day of classes, and luckily, our school hosts a concert then. That meant while everyone was at the concert, I could start setting up the backyard. I texted his friend to borrow their grill and die table and his friend brought those over. In the days leading up to his surprise party, I went to the Dollar Tree for decorations, Costco for groceries, and Home Depot for the things needed to grill. I hid everything all over the house so he wouldn’t know what they were for when he came over. On the actual day, I had one of our friends sending me updates at the concert, one friend come over early to start the grill, and another help me set up the backyard. Meanwhile, I had been telling him I really wanted to play die in the backyard after the concert so he would know to come over after the concert. We all hid in the backyard and we were able to successfully surprise him with a birthday party! While this event wasn’t anything crazy or extravagant, I know it meant a lot to him because he has been constantly telling me how much it meant to him and how happy he was that he was able to a celebrate his birthday with all his friends at school. I enjoy planning and hosting so I had so much fun doing something for someone I love.

My goal is to make a new person smile everyday. I find it extremely important because you just never know what that person may be going through. Just off the top of my head, I can say a time I went out of my way to provide an act of kindness was when I was at a restaurant with my friends. My friend and I went to the bathroom and we found a woman clearly intoxicated and bleeding from her head, and an employee standing with her. Immediately, my friend grabbed a wet paper towel and I started to ask if she was okay and if she was here alone. The employee told me that the woman has done this before and I told her that my friend and I can take care/help her. We sat outside with her and we ordered her an Uber. I asked her if she could unlock her phone so I can put my friend and I’s number so she can text us when she was back home. She texted us that she was home and the next day, she sent both my friend and I a text thanking us and explaining that she has been going through a difficult time. My friend and I still talk about how we are so glad we found her in the bathroom because we wouldn’t be able to live with the idea of not knowing how she went home and if she was okay.

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