Saturday, March 16, 2013

Pay It Forward

The other night I dropped by Target on my way home to grab some milk and as usual ended up with a dress and tube of lipstick. I made my way to the checkout line, scoping for the shortest one and ended up behind a family of five buying the usual household necessities.  I set my purchases on the conveyor belt, but didn't put down one of those rectangle dividers as I was distracted digging for my wallet to find the coupon that would justify the dress. As my pile zipped up to the cashier I told her that was my stuff, I just forgot to divide it and JOKINGLY said to the mom in front of me, "unless you want to pay for it!" The cashier told us a story of someone doing that in her line during Christmas, paying for the items of the person behind them and how sweet is was. I guess this inspired the lady in front of me because she offered to do that same thing! I was embarrassed! Which is probably the opposite reaction you should have, but I was making a joke and she was taking it seriously! I tried to stop her, I even lightly threatened the cashier, but no deal. That sweet family bought my half gallon of milk and lipstick/dress splurge. Of course I got teary eyed telling myself NOT to cry and I can't even remember how many times I thanked her, I might even have called her crazy. As they walked away she said, "have a nice night and now you can pass it on!"

Pay it forward. You always hear of people doing amazing things for others in the news, but how often do you hear of them passing it on? How often do you have something like that happen to you, feel good about it for a few days then completely forget about it? Paying it forward is what I intend to do! I'm not sure how or where, but I will keep my eyes open for any opportunity and I encourage all of you to do the same!

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