The origins of this are lost in memory but when the boys were young we engaged in something called Pixie. It took different forms but essentially it was doing something nice for another member of the family and saying "You've been pixie'd". It could be folding someone's laundry and leaving it on their bed or tucking a special treat into a lunch bag or finding the windshield cleared of ice on a winter morning (this was Ontario!) or writing a note for someone to find in their luggage when they arrived at the end of a trip or – well, you get the idea.
Mostly it was random acts but at times one person would be designated Pixie for the day and the rest of us would focus on that one and plan ahead.
This morning I stopped at a crosswalk and when the young woman pushing a stroller with a toddler slowly walking beside her reached the other side of the road and turned to smile and wave at me – I guess for being patient and not rushing past her as soon as I had a clear inch – I thought, "I've been pixie'd".
Then came the realization that it works both ways. And it kind of spreads.