I was pushing my shopping cart along,
lost in thought, when I felt a touch on my arm.
I turned to see a woman whose name I couldn’t remember, something that’s
not so unusual for me.... I’m lucky I
can remember my children’s names... And
my husband’s. I found myself looking at
her blankly. Her name, what’s her
name? I said to myself frantically. Sally? Kathy? Sandy? Sarah?
Mandy? I think it starts with an S ....
or does it end with a Y... or ...?
She smiled, the sort of a smile that
lit up her eyes and beamed from her whole face.
I couldn’t help smiling back. We
chatted for a moment, then resumed our shopping. A glow grew in my heart and my step was
lighter–just because she recognized me enough to get my attention and
smile. She didn’t call me by name, so
she may not have remembered mine, either.
She could have gone on by, just like I do so often when I see somebody
whose name I can’t quite remember.
What matters was her stopping me,
smiling, and, in a moment, boosting my day!
A few weeks ago I wrote about “random
(and not so random!) acts of kindness” in Color Country and asked you to tell
me about your experiences. Your response
has made this a most delightful column
for me to write.
The following are just a few of the
things you shared. A couple who moved to
Cedar City not long ago said a pitcher-full of roses was left on their front
door step. “But who could have left
them? We don’t know our neighbors very
well. There were 18 roses, not a dozen,
but 18! Can you imagine? And gorgeous, oh, they just took my breath
away–just like red velvet.”
We talked about how much fun it was not
to know exactly who gave them. “It makes
you feel warm about everybody, doesn’t it?” said her husband.
A reader wrote to say that somebody in
the car in front of her paid her entrance fee into Zions one day.
Another wrote to say that she saw
somebody hand several hundred dollar bills to the check out clerk and tell her
to pay for the groceries of the woman behind him and to give her any
change. The woman had two little
children with her, was largely pregnant and the cart was full. The reader was in the parallel check out line
and witnessed the woman’s puzzled then, dumfounded look when the clerk told her
she didn’t owe anything and handed her some cash.
How much fun that man must have had to
imagine what my reader saw!
One of the “mom” discussion boards I
belong to asked, “If you found $10, what would you do with it?” At first, I thought about taking my grandkids
for an ice cream cone or putting it into a “just for fun” fund (after trying to
find who dropped it, of course). But, then
I thought about the people who’d paid for somebody’s groceries and how I wished
I could afford such largess. Then I
realized that I didn’t have to spend a lot to have the same kind of fun. If I found $10, I’d just pay for my
groceries, then hand the clerk the money to apply to the person in line behind
me!
What would you do if you found $10? E-mail me at heavenhelpusbeourbest@gmail.com- Corrie Lynne Player
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