I always see those posts about people surprising strangers by paying for their stuff, and think about how wonderful it sounds, and how much I would love to do that someday. Tonight I made an impromptu trip to Aldi, and I noticed the woman in front of me counting her small stack of bills and her change over and over, and mumbling to herself with a frazzled look on her face. I knew what was coming. I watched as she had the cashier ring up the second half of her groceries one at a time, carefully checking the total each time and selecting which item she was going to add. I watched her look embarrassed as she handed her bag of potatoes, her package of tomatoes, and the package of paper plates to the cashier and apologetically say she wasnt going to buy them after all. As she walked a few feet away to pack up her purchases after paying, I asked the cashier to hand me the other stuff and to add it to my bill. She realized what I was doing and scanned it, then took it over to the woman and explained that she would be able to take home everything she had hoped to buy after all. I always knew people must be touched if something like that happened to them, but I never imagined just how much it would mean. She waited for me and hugged me, and told me how ashamed she was. I hugged her back as her eyes filled up with tears and she told me she is caring for her grand kids while they are on summer vacation so their mother can work and go to school, and her daughter is so dependent on school meals and she is trying to help out, and that she was recently diagnosed with diabetes and realized how much she needed to change her lifestyle but is still adjusting to the increases cost of food, and I told her she should be proud of herself for helping them instead of feeling ashamed. We just stood and talked for a few minutes before going our separate ways, and she gave me one last big farewell wave and told me she couldnt wait to call everyone she knows and tell them about the kindness that really still does exist.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 00:35:07 +0000
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