Here's the scene right before the holidays: The kids were terribly sick, Nate and I also picked up the worst flu in the history of flus, nobody had slept in days, papers were piling up on my desk and EVERYONE was beyond cranky.
We trekked to the doctor’s office and left with numerous prescriptions for all and headed to the pharmacy. There our agonizing 20-minute wait
began.
As we waited, we walked through the aisles to pick up a few small items in hopes of brightening our spirits. The kids picked fruit snacks and stickers and I opted for several products boasting promises to cover the black circles under my eyes.
We approached the checkout counter with $100 of prescriptions and treats, and the woman behind the counter said she had a coupon for my cosmetics. I told her I had already read the store flyer and, sadly, there was no coupon. Then, she pulled out a small box of coupons, organized and labeled, and explained they are from the Sunday paper. Huh? She continued to say that she likes to cut coupons and share them, sort of like a hobby.
I am used to paying more for convenience. I have honestly spent more than five dollars for a gallon of milk at a gas station just because I did not have time to make run one more errand. And here is a woman who cuts coupons from the paper for other people as a hobby?
That coupon saved me two bucks on my total bill. This savings may not sound like a big deal in most people’s world. However, that day at that moment, it was like winning the lottery. We left the pharmacy with medications, fruit snacks, stickers and cover-up products in hand. But thanks to the random kindness of this woman, we left with more than that. We left with a belief that we WOULD heal, we WOULD be healthy again, we WOULD sleep through the night once more, and my complexion WOULD return to the normal .
This inspiration made me promise to myself that, in 2009, no matter how small the deed, I would “pay it forward”— hopefully to a mom with puffy eyes and a few sick kids behind her.
