Paying It Forward/Random Acts of Kindness

I've been thinking about things all day. I guess it's just one of those days that lends itself to introspection. So pull up a good seat and listen for a few if you happen to have found yourself here reading then I'm sure there's a reason.

At the end of January I had to go to the airport to pick up my brother and his girlfriend. It's about 110 miles round trip or so. I took the guest we had here at the house with me because it seemed too odd to leave him at home alone.

I realized about 30 minutes from home that I'd forgotten to grab my cell phone off the charger before I left. So I had no way for my brother to reach me in the car to tell me where to pick him up at and that he had arrived. The whole way there Ross complained and when we got to the airport we discovered that my brother's flight had been cancelled at the last minute but because we'd already left for the airport we'd missed the call.

So here we are at the airport, low on fuel and no cash between us. I was flat broke. Going into business with someone who tends to spend more than you earn does that to your pocketbook. Anyway, so this guy is really pitching a fit. Yelling, smoking like a chimney, pacing around at the airport. I send him in to ask when the next flight is due because I have no way to phone my mother or my brother's cell since they are long distance and I forgot my phone.

He comes back and tells me they will be there in 4 hours. He doesn't want to wait at the airport that long. Take me home, he says. Now keep in mind this is the same day my bunnies died. I was stressed out big time. (see earlier blog on truthsinger.blogspot.com). I feel like my head is going to explode and my eyes are bugging out from pressure and it's harder and harder to be nice to this fellow.

So I remember that I have a gift card from a local gas station called Valero in my purse. My brother had tossed it to me saying "it has some $$ on it but not much". So I know there's one across the highway and decide I'll go get an aspirin and try to think on what to do.

I get there and the card has $1.77 on it, just enough to pay for one of those little packets of pills and tax. I ask the lady if I can use her restroom but it's in use at the moment so I wait. While I wait she and I start chatting. "Long day, bad day. Bunnies died. Plane cancelled. Hermit the grouch for a passenger. blah blah blah". I proceed to talk to her because she resembles my eldest daughter so much I felt at home with her and she had such a lovely welcoming smile.

I told her I had a migraine and wanted nothing so much as to dump this dude off at home so I could wait in peace but I didn't have enough cash for gas to get there and back the 100 miles. So next thing I know, Jackie offers to pay for not only the headache pills but $10.00 in gas. Just enough to get me home and back. I told her I couldn't pay her back any time soon and she said no need, just pay it forward. I promised I would and with tears in my eyes I finally got into the restroom to wash up.

We filled up and I took him home then turned right around to go back because by then my brother had phoned, they'd made another airlines flight and were waiting on me at the airport which was still over an hour away. So I grabbed the cell and headed back with my head pounding.

About ten miles up the road I had to stop and dig in my purse for more pills because the headache was so bad I couldn't see well. I found some, took them and started to pull back onto the highway when I saw something glare in the headlights from the nearby ground. I got out to investigate and found a ladies wallet and 18 credit cards and personal stuff all over the muddy ground. I picked them up and made sure I got them all and then proceeded back to the airport.

Later that night after returning home I phoned the number for the cell in the wallet but no answer. Turns out the wallet belongs to a lady who'd been in Little Rock on business and was robbed. The next day she phoned me to tell me how relieved she was and ask me to mail it. To my embarrassment I didn't have enough $$ to mail it to her so her husband made arrangements to have UPS come get it.

The funny thing was that for a few days before this I'd kept having random "pictures" in my head of Denver Colorado and the aurora borealis. Didn't make any sense to me until I looked at Denise's return address to tell UPS. She lived in Aurora Colorado. Which I'd never heard of but sounds lovely.

So today, when I ever so happily returned Mr. Grump the guest to the airport, I took the time to stop by the station and tell Jackie the owner about that night and how her generous offer of $10.00 gas meant that I was on that road to see the wallet to return it to the rightful owner in Colorado. I guess that means I paid it forward afterall and I thought she'd like to know.

One other thing that made my afternoon, when I walked into her station, even after knowing me only a few minutes she said hey you, welcome home! I think she's wonderful and I thank heaven that such people still exist!

So I hope this wasn't too lengthy to enjoy and that if you read it now there was a reason, something for you to pass on to another. Random acts of kindness work!

Love to you all! Sinsual aka Vandra