Pay It Forward

Scenerio: Schlotzsky's Drive Thru (does anyone in Tucson still go to Schlotzsky's?)...2 Hot, Hungry, Tired Children...Order of 2 cheese pizzas, a soda, and 2 chocolate chip cookies...$7.65...Lady in front of me with a really nice BMW (so shiny and so pretty and much, much cleaner than my Explorer and probably with really, really, really cold air that feels like heaven)...I pull up to the drive-thru window to pay for our purchase with the last $8 in my wallet...was told that said lady in said BMW had so generously paid for our lunch...Purposely....not on accident...she didn't just drive off, forgetting her change...such a little thing, yet so big. I can honestly say that I have NEVER done that for anyone. I don't even know if the thought has ever crossed my mind.

This is the first time I can recall a complete stranger actually doing something nice for me...I tend to notice the slights and the wrongs - the lady cutting in front of me in line, the car that is following me way too closely, the kids at the park who throw sand on the slide just as my little boy is going down, the man who haphazardly discards his shopping cart next to my car and allows it to roll into my fender. I forgot that random acts of kindness do exist...even in Tucson!

So...thank you, nice lady in the Beamer who bought us lunch for no reason whatsoever! You made our day and reminded me that we all get so caught up in our own circle of life that we forget to see those around us...