A couple weeks ago I was shopping at Walmart. An older gentleman was in line a head of me and kept looking at the gum, trying to decide if he wanted any, and eventually gave up, paid and started to leave when he saw what he was looking for on the rack in the aisle next to us. By this time, I was in the middle of my cart full of groceries and there was at least one other person behind me in line. He patiently got to the end of the line, with his son waiting with the cart full of the already purchased groceries (I wold like to point out that I was smiling while I saw what he had chosen earlier, the usual...veggies, fruits, vitamins, meat, some juice, a box of Good and Plenty's and some Skittles.) I waved him up to where I was and told him I would get his gum for him. He thanked me and then tried to pay me. I told him a couple times that no, I just wanted to get the gum for him and he was like, but I haven't paid for it yet. Finally I said, "Sir, I'm just trying to do something nice, can I please pay for your gum?" He took a step back, blinked a few times and gave me a stiff old man hug.
His son also offered to pay me, and shooed him away as well. He asked me why, and I said, honestly, I wanted to do something nice, he reminds me of my grandpa and I understand the importance of gum (I actually had 4 different packages of it on the belt at the time). He thanked me and while they were walking away, I heard the old man tell his son, Can you believe that? She didn't want ANYTHING for it!
It kind of made me sad that people find it so shocking that someone wants to do something nice for someone else. Here, I paid $1 to save a man waiting in line for 10 minutes and to let him have a treat. I have also paid for coffee for the person behind me a few times (in the drive through at Starbucks, in line at Friedrich's). Tonight I helped a couple of women that were lost in the skywalk find their way to their hotel. They said they were going to be in town for a conference for a few days so I also showed them a few places to eat and to get coffee/drinks along the way as well.
A friend of mine had a birthday earlier this year and what she asked for from her friends and family was to do a Random Act of Kindness. I believe she found the information somewhere in reference to The Birthday Project online. She had everyone put on her FB event's page as to what the RAOK was. I don't know how many she got, but mine that day was to jump start someone's car in the parking garage at work that day.
I think that we should all try to do at least one RAOK a week. It doesn't have to cost anything...It may just be holding the door for someone, offering to take a cart back, smiling at someone you meet on the sidewalk, or in my case, the skywalk. Buying a glass of lemonade from the girl on the corner (Side note: Our neighbor girl put up a stand this past weekend. At some point, she had made enough money that she had to go to the store, get more lemonade and was even able to upgrade from a pitcher to a Thermos with a spout at the bottom AND top. She's so stinkin' cute and it's only a quarter. Her chalkboard sign in front says "Zoe's Pink Lemonade Stand 25 cents per cup! :)" How can you walk away from that!). Sometimes I think we are so caught up in ourselves, our phones, our lives, that we don't take a moment to just live.
IN other non-related news, Spenny declared to me last week that he has a girlfriend. Her name is Tessa, she is beautiful and she has fast shoes. He really loves the frisbee and tonight told me that cousins are the very best friends ever and that you should love your cousins and tell them. He's super sweet, has a great smile and is honestly a really good kid. He always puts others first, especially his little brother and best friend. He likes Frisbee's right now and is getting more perceptive all the time.
Emerson is adorable. Mouthy. getting a deep voice already. He loves his fish (We're on Doug #3 and I gave up on Rock for now...he's on vacation if anyone asks). He loves morning cuddles, bed time hugs and to eat all of my salad. He loves playing with my camera on my phone and sending pictures to instagram. He told me the other day he is Duffenswirtz (or whatever hsi name is...the bad guy from Phineas and Ferb).
With that being said, I'm going to bed. Good night all :)
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