pay it forward

Last week I was in line for lunch at Costco.  The two girls were in the cart while I was busy texting.  The man behind me in line commented on how darling my girls were.  I looked up for a second, smiled and thanked him, then went back to my phone as Mia smothered Lyla with hugs and kisses and the kind gentleman kept going on about how cute they were and to savor these precious moments.  It was finally our turn in line.  I ordered our pizza, hot dog and drinks and handed over my debit card only for it to be rejected by a "cash only" reply.  Drats.  "Ok," I replied, "I guess I will hunt down some cash." 

I started making my way towards the Costco entrance, promising Mia with some samples inside to hold her over, when the nice man from behind me in line caught up to me and said, "I just paid for your lunch."

I seriously almost started crying on the spot.  Ok, I definitely got embarrassingly teary eyed. Not that I was in dire need of money, nor that my children were starving.  I was just so taken aback with the kindness of this stranger.  I thanked him profusely and he said "Your hands are full" (by the way, the most endearing 'hands are full' comment I have ever received), "just do it for someone else sometime".

This was such a small and simple act of service, about $4 to be exact, but it made my whole day.  Scratch that, it made my whole week.  I have probably even told you the story already if you have seen me.  It has made me think a lot about small acts of kindness and really, truly wanting to pay it forward and be aware of people around me and their needs.  It was also a reminder that people are mostly good.  We see a lot of bad around us that we tend to focus on.  But there are still a lot of good people out there.