Water {part 2}

As I drove through lovely traffic today to do some much needed grocery shopping, I realized something.  I was kid-free.  I was blaring the radio.  And I was driving to BJ's on a Friday night in my minivan.  Wow.  What a great night I was going to have..... 

But then I remembered that my friend who just passed away would've given anything to take another 'annoying trip to the grocery store', and I decided to change my perspective from "have to" to "get to".  Like I "get to" go buy groceries for that family of mine. They are all healthy, and I have the money to buy what we need.  Enough said.  By the time I walked into the store, I was in a better mood.

My cart looked like Mount Everest by the time I hit the frozen food area.  As I forced my cart around the corner of the aisle, I saw a man struggling to get out of one of those ride-on cart things, and I asked if I could reach something for him.  He used his cane to right himself, and said that his cart had a dead battery.  He was going to try to walk back up to the front of the store to get a new one.  No offense to the sweet man, but he wasn't going to get all the way back up to the front of the store without an issue.  I offered to get someone to help find him a new one.  While he protested, an employee I saw earlier {who was collecting boxes for the store} came by, and I asked if he would help.  He said yes, but looked at me like 'thanks alot lady'....and I kind of thought he might not come back...he had looked pretty aggravated earlier when I saw him by the yogurt.

While we waited, the stranded man struck up quite the conversation with me.  Turns out he was retired, and had worked on the school board for Harvard.  His wife {who was somewhere in the store} was a retired nurse for children with special needs.  He asked what I did for a living, and wondered if I had kids, etc....small talk while we waited.  It was kind of funny, like we were old friends or something.  He was very sweet, and while checking out my cart, suggested I put back the ice cream sandwiches, and get my kids the drumstick ice cream cones, because 'they were more fun~and you get more in the box'.  I agreed, and put the sandwiches back... 

I was hoping that the box~guy would come back soon with a new ride-on cart, since my ice cream was surely melting, and I felt bad leaving this man alone {apparently not many people think grocery shopping is a fun Friday night activity}. 

It didn't take that long, and the box~guy turned the corner on a charged-up, ride-on cart.  Everyone who was near us in the frozen food area cheered for him, and I threw my arms in the air, hootin and hollerin.  How we ended up with a crowd, I do not know.  You should've seen the box-guys face light up~it was like he just won the Indy 500 or something.  It was hysterical. 

The older man was appreciative, the box guy was beaming, and the older guys wife turned the corner, like what the heck is going on?!!   I said,  "Your husband broke down, and he needed some assistance".  She cracked up,  saying it figures he would've gotten help from a nice young lady...

Maybe we all needed some assistance, because after the sweet couple got on their way, and the rest of us back to shopping and working, we were all a little better off than we were before the break-down.   There is nothing special about doing the right thing, we all make countless decisions to be kind everyday~but being really aware of those kind acts, and watching the ripple effect that is created because of them~that is the fun part.
Another reminder of my favorite speech....it's all water, isn't it? 


Have a great day!

{Jenn}

*Picture I used was found here at "My Sweet Savannah", and traced back to this site as well.  I tried to find original credit, if I missed something, let me know.