Dave has started to run out of dinner ideas so Rachel went on Pinterest and found a bunch of easy recipes they can put together. I was giggling to myself because Rachel wasn’t just saying, “a can of spaghetti sauce” it was, “a 26oz can of spaghetti sauce.” It just made me giggle because I never think twice about how big the can of sauce is or if I am buying a 1lb bag versus a 2lb bag of noodles.
Anyways, we made it to the register. We were in the self-check out line and there was a man in the self-check out line next to us who had to run out to his car because he was short a few bucks. His total was $28 and he had to run out to his car for $8 more dollars. He told the worker that he would be right back and jogged out the door. Rachel said to me “you won’t pay for him” and I didn’t hear her at first… but when she repeated it, I realized what she meant. I was a little caught off guard but I hopped on over to the register and entered two $5’s into the machine. I got my change and walked back over to Rachel.
I was a little nervous when the man walked back in, just because I had never done this exact ‘random act of kindness’ before. When he walked back in he looked so confused when he looked at the screen that now read ‘Register Open’.
“I got you.” I said to him with a smile. He was so caught off guard. He tried to pay me, but I told him not to worry about it. He was grateful and I could tell he didn’t totally realize what had just happened.
When I got into the car with Rach, we were talking about it and I said, “because in the grand scheme of things, what is EIGHT dollars?” That is a meal at Chipotle that I can pass on tomorrow because I decided to put my money to good use. I decided to use $8 dollars to surprise a random man with an act of kindness today… and I don’t regret this decision at all. I will never regret being kind.
Made me start to think deeper into this situation. On numerous occasions I have paid for the person behind me in the drive-thru, helped someone carry something they were struggling with, or let someone cut me in line at the store because they have less items than me. I like to look for the light in the darkest of situations, I don’t like when people are mad or unhappy, and I almost always have a smile on my face. I’ve been told before at work that I am hard to take seriously because I am so nice. Most people would probably classify me as a pushover or think that I am weak because I don’t really have a mean bone in my body… but to me, having a big, soft heart in a world that tries to change that…is courage.
I have the goal to wake up every single morning and change someone else’s day, not matter how my own day is going. Making someone else’s day costs NOTHING. Yes—I said nothing. $8 is nothing to surprise a man and restore his faith in there being good people in this world. I did not need to do what I did today, but I wanted to.
This also brought another point to mind… money is nothing. What DOES mean something, are the memories and feelings that I get from being with other people. Money will always be there but some of the moments that I am lucky enough to experience won’t be around forever. Moments like talking to Piper FaceTime when Shelby gets home from work in the mornings, talking to the old folks that come into the PT clinic, or going on long drives just to look at emus with Rachel. Going to yard sales with my mom and taking walks with my dad and Bubba. Not waking up in the morning to an alarm clock, but instead, Justin calling me to wake me up. Simple FaceTime calls with Dani that turn into 2-hour affairs. Or even moments like right now… This blog could’ve been posted 10 minutes earlier, but I decided to sit here and admire Zeus’ sleepy face lying in my lap, falling asleep to me petting him.
It is moments like these that no chunk of change could ever amount to.