Random Act of Kindness

Last Tuesday, while in line at the grocery store to buy pink lemonade for the Friends and Ponies (as in "My Little") Party Valerie and I are hosting for the little girls in our neighborhood, I got to practice a random act of kindness.

The woman, husband, and two kids in line in front of us were about to pay for two loaded carts of groceries. The total was over $740! The clerk told the woman that if she applied for a store club card, she could save a lot. Well, the woman respectfully declined as they were here from another state that doesn't have our particular grocery store chain, and they would only be here for a week, so she had no use for the card.

The clerk said she could use another guest's card, so I obliged. Then, I watched that total on the register's monitor go down over $90! I said, "You could fill up your car's gas tank almost twice on that, I bet!" She was so happy. She thanked me profusely. It felt really nice.

On the walk to the car I was explaining to Valerie what had happened. She asked, "Do you want to be friends with that woman, mama?" I had to explain how she and her family were only visiting our area for a short time and that I would probably never see her again. It was kind of hard for Valerie to understand.

But it got me thinking about how many opportunities we have, almost every day, to make small positive differences in other peoples' lives. On Tuesday the difference was a chunk of change, but more important was the excitement and happiness and connection, if just for a few moments, the interaction brought to complete strangers.

And a little good karma is a positive thing, too.