The Angel Angle Issue #02
Three pinned topics to jump-start your day.
It takes a lot of courage and confidence to give your wife full control over planning your 40th birthday party. This is why Maddie won’t have a hand in any of the details for mine this year (January 2nd, 2024 for those who want to get me a gift). But that wasn’t the case for my buddy Chris who not only told his wife Rachel to plan the party but also to surprise him with the destination…a surprise that lasted right up until we boarded the flight…to Colorado…or was it Florida?
All of his friends and family were in on it and Chris, to my surprise, really wasn’t sure where we were going, not even as we sat there at the gate to board our flight. He did have an inkling we were overselling Colorado as the destination and started to become suspicious. That changed when a total stranger sitting across from us, who had caught wind of the shenanigans, mentioned within earshot of Chris, that we were boarding our flight to Denver soon. What an absolute gem. It wasn’t until we were all called to board by the gate agent that Chris finally figured it all out.
“We will now begin boarding the A Group. Please find your place in line to board our flight to Fort Lauderdale.”
Got him!
Thanks to Nick, the stranger with the excellent name, we had Chris guessing wrong until the last possible moment. We ended up sitting behind Nick, who was with his wife Ellen. They were heading to Florida for some well deserved rest and relaxation after recently receiving the incredible news they were going to be parents…to twins! Our group talked with them much of the flight and by the time we landed, they felt like long time friends. I signed books for them both, gave them angel pins, wished them a good trip, and told them they’d have to give me a book review on our return flight home together to Kansas City.
We did see them on the return flight home, they did read my book, they both enjoyed it, and that’s why this week’s SHARE almost brings tears to my eyes again. The book, the angels, the interactions, the friendliness, the decision to put down our phones and talk to each other…all of it led to this message four days later from Nick to me:
There are a multitude of reasons why receiving this message was immensely impactful and I shed actual tears reading it. I wrote Angel Man with the sole purpose of being able to hand the completed book to my grandfather so he could read it. I told my team at Streamline beyond that, everything else would be gravy.
Getting this message from Nick was beyond gravy for me. It’s the purpose and soul of this book and the reason why I believe everyone should read it, share it, and pass out angels. Kindness is contagious. Kindness is not a difficult thing to show others, even total strangers, and you never know if that person is struggling or down in the dumps and needs someone to remind them they are worthy of all the love and happiness this world has in store.
My second Angel Angle SHOUT out goes to Scottie Williams, a 95 year old man who turned around my whole morning on my drive to a dentist appointment a couple weeks ago.
I wasn’t five minutes into my commute when I noticed an old man standing on the corner of a busy road in Leawood, Kansas. He was standing, next to his walker, waving. It caught me off guard at first and I slowed to make sure he didn’t need some help but as I got closer, I could tell he was the last person in the world who needed help. He was beaming ear to ear, waving at traffic, giving thumbs up and I realized cars full of parents and their kids were slowing down to honk, yell out the window, and wave back.
Luckily I was a little ahead of schedule for the morning so I decided to flip my Jeep around to go back and introduce myself and to give Scottie some angel pins. After parking my car, I walked up and introduced myself. He told me he used to walk every day and he got bored of looking at concrete the whole time and said to himself, “Scottie. If you’re bored, there’s not anyone who can do anything about that except you.” So the next day he decided to walk out to the corner and wave at the morning commuters who he told me often seemed “glum.”
Scottie may not have an Instagram account, but standing there only fifteen minutes or so, it was evident he had quite a following. Kids yelled his name out the window. Truck drivers honked. There was even a jogger who went by us with his dog who said, “There’s my favorite waving friend in the world.” There was nothing but love and joy from Scottie to others and from others to Scottie. It was quite a beautiful thing to witness and after learning about how he ended up in Kansas City after 30 years in California and about his love for the Chiefs, I asked if I could take a picture with him.
He asked me if I’d print out the picture and bring it to him so he could have it. It was a request I’ll be fulfilling this upcoming week. I handed him some angel pins, told him about my grandfather, who Scottie reminds me of a lot, and we wished each other well. My cup was overflowing in that moment. These are the moments that connect us. These are the moments life is really about. To be honest, I was so moved by seeing Scottie’s simple act of kindness bring so much joy to those who drove by, I wouldn’t have cared if the dentist told me I needed a root canal.
Here’s a news story about Scottie from a few weeks ago
Here's how you can shine this week . . .
There is a lot of good that can come from volunteering your time and talents to others. One of the coolest and most rewarding experiences I’ve had so far in my own life is being a board member with the BMA Foundation. We put on events to raise money that we give to Kansas City organizations that improve the lives of children and animals. Raising the money is hard work and a lot of fun too but it’s amazing to watch it impact my local community in lots of different ways.
You don’t have to go out and join a board tomorrow. I’d encourage you to do a little research into local non-profits that align with your interests and passions and find ways to volunteer for an event they host. Speaking from experience, we LOVE our volunteers and will never turn away those who want to get involved. Once you find an organization you connect with, start exploring ways to become more involved, and see if there’s a possibility for a seat on the board. I promise you it will be worth the investment of your time to impact the lives of others.
Last month we talked about “Paying it Forward” and how powerful a simple act of kindness can be in the lives of others. Did you try spending a week dedicating one act of kindness each day to others? If so, I’d love to hear how it went.