Celebrating Jack Through Acts of Kindness
March 22, 2025 - Today we should be celebrating Jack’s 24th birthday WITH him here WITH us. We should be enjoying his favorite cake, eating chicken wings and watching “The Fast and Furious” WITH him. We should be celebrating Jack’s birth, Jack’s life, Jack’s humor, Jack’s wit and Jack’s kind heart, WITH him.
Grievously, because of a man-made drug named “Fentanyl”, we will be celebrating Jack in spirit as Jack will be “Forever 22” in our hearts.
For those of you new here, Fentanyl is a synthetic drug that has killed more young people in this age bracket than any other cause. Whether someone took a drug laced with Fentanyl unknowingly or took it knowingly it should not be so widely within reach, nor should it be poisoning our children and loved ones.
The United States is the number one country in overdose deaths. Congratulations, USA…the gold medal in overdose deaths. Do not be fooled by the slight decline in overdose deaths from 2023 to 2024. Those numbers do not show that Fentanyl is going away but rather more people can obtain Naloxone (Narcan) and survive overdoses. It is initiatives like Inspired by Jack getting the message out and educating others.
Last year (2024) was my first year celebrating Jack’s birthday without him. I didn’t know how I was going to navigate the day much less get through it.. My director and friend kindly gave me the day off to figure out how to go about the day and see where my heart took me. She knew that day wasn’t going to be easy, was going to be unpredictable and certainly would be emotional.
I woke with no plan but to somehow get through the day. As I started the day my heart and mind went immediately to wanting to celebrate Jack. I wanted to do a random act of kindness and I wanted the world to know that it was Jack’s birthday. His life was worth celebrating. He deserved to be here celebrating. He didn’t deserve to die.
I thought of how best to honor and celebrate Jack. I started baking cupcakes and frosting cupcakes and adding the M&Ms to the top that we had always added to our cakes. I then decorated them with stickers for Inspired by Jack and proceeded to pack my car up with the cupcakes and went to Fire Station #72 in Upper Arlington. The same station that I had called the morning he passed. The same station I had called numerous times when he was too sick for me to get him to the hospital so many times before.
I didn’t call the fire station before going as that seemed too overwhelming to me. I arrived unannounced and a kind woman who works at the station invited me in. I got to meet a few of the EMS workers while there and leave them with a few stories, hugs and the cupcakes I had made in Jack’s honor and as a thank you.
I returned to my car and drove home feeling a little more full knowing that Jack was being celebrated and his legacy of kindness was being honored.
We can all benefit from sharing and receiving a random act of kindness. An unexpected act of kindness can go a long way and have a positive ripple effect. We all deserve to feel happy and loved.
While this year I will go into the day with this one plan of celebrating Jack and sharing a random act of kindness, I will also not make other plans and see where my heart and my celebration of Jack’s life may take me.
In honor of Jack or someone else that you have loved and lost, please remember them, celebrate them and honor them through an act of kindness.
Always be kind,
Mindy