Katie Carroll's Sary in the Real World Story!

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

I haven't had one of these awesome stories to share in a while, so I'm really happy to be able to share my amazing critique partner, editor, and all around amazing person, Katie Caroll's post! Also, you definitely should check out Katie's blog, and her amazing book, Elixir Bound!!

Thanks, Meradeth, for having me on the blog today for another Sary in the Real World post. When I posted back in November, I told the story of how my sister and I were on our way to Alaska to run a marathon and needed some Sary intervention to get there. The acts of kindness in that case were big acts, the kind of stuff you remember for a long time afterward.

But there are acts of kindness that are smaller, performed every day, with little fanfare. In some ways I think these small acts are more important than the big ones because little by little they add up to a big whole. The opposite of the saying “death by a million paper cuts,” a positive butterfly effect.

A few months ago, my 2-year-old and I were walking in our quaint downtown and needed to stop at the post office. I had him in the stroller with all my packages in the bottom compartment. Upon arriving at the post office, I realized the old government building had several sets of stairs and no ramp. So I was faced with either taking everything out of the stroller—purse, many packages, my toddler—hauling it all into the post office, and leaving the stroller outside or trying to pull the stroller up the stairs. I opted with trying to pull the stroller up the stairs.

A couple of stairs in, a petite woman came walking down the sidewalk and offered to help. With two sets of hands, we were able to easily carry the stroller and all its contents up the stairs. Now this lady had no way of knowing I was pregnant just not showing yet, so her help was especially appreciated because I probably shouldn’t have been trying to haul all that stuff up the stairs in the first place. When we went to leave the post office, another woman helped me get the stroller down.

Now these two acts of kindness weren’t life-altering or world changing, but they made my day a little bit easier. At the time I had been suffering a lot of fatigue and morning sickness, so anything to make my day slightly easier was much appreciated. I try to offer up these small acts when I can as well. Holding a door open for someone, offering a smile to someone while I’m walking down the street. We can all be Sary every day with little effort and send little ripples of kindness around the world.

About the author:

Katie L. Carroll began writing at a very sad time in her life after her 16-year-old sister, Kylene, unexpectedly passed away. Since then writing has taken her to many wonderful places, real and imagined. She wrote ELIXIR BOUND and the forthcoming ELIXIR SAVED so Kylene could live on in the pages of a book. Katie is also the author of a picture app called THE BEDTIME KNIGHT and a book editor. She lives not too far from the beach in a small Connecticut city with her family. Visit her website at www.katielcarroll.com or follow her on Twitter @KatieLCarroll.