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me. No one would be aware of my intentions beforehand. I didn't want people to know that
if they showed me a random act of kindness they would receive anything in return. That's
not the way it works. We don't give to get. We give to give. I couldn't help everyone who
was kind and loving, but I would help as many as I could. And I would do so in life-chan-
ging, “Whoa, did that just happen?” ways.
I made it home and ran up the steps to my house, taking them three at a time. I rushed in-
to the living room to see my girlfriend sitting on the couch with her computer. Lina smiled
at me from across the room, and as it often did in her presence, my heart relaxed a little.
I went toward her, and without even realizing it, I found myself bending down on one
knee in front of her, “Babe,” I began. “I need to tell you something.”
I could see a flicker of joy in her eyes, and then I realized Lina was expecting a far
grander proposal. For the last couple of months (ever since we had moved in together),
she had begun to hint in increasingly stronger nudges that she wanted something akin to a
promise from me. A promise that this was heading to commitment, heading toward chil-
dren, heading toward the kind of life where she and I would be together, forever.
For. Ever.
Realizing that a bended knee was probably not the right gesture, I quickly stood up and
announced, “I am going on a journey.”
“Great,” she said, her blonde hair falling loosely around her face as she looked back at
her computer, hiding the swift disappointment I had seen cloud her eyes. “Where you off
to?”
“Los Angeles.”
“We're in Los Angeles, silly?” she laughed. “Are you going to the grocery store?”
Here goes
, I thought to myself. It was now or never, “Not exactly, I'm going from Los
Angeles to Los Angeles. I am going to circumnavigate the globe on a vintage yellow mo-
torcycle.”
Silence.
More silence.
“Babe,” I began, a little concerned for my safety.
The laptop snapped closed, and she was back to life, “Are you serious?” Her face began
to darken as she pleaded. “Leon, please tell me this is just another one of your wacky
ideas.”
Well, it certainly was wacky.
I hesitated. Did I really want to risk my relationship, my career . . . for kindness?
