Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Paying It Forward

 
Have you ever been touched by the kindness of a stranger?

This was posted on Facebook recently by a wonderful woman who works at my daughter's group home:
My friend and I were at Applebee's yesterday for lunch when someone sent a business card saying, " You have been touched by an act of kindness. Please pay it forward". The note came with a $25.00 gift card for our lunch!!!! So we gave the waitress an extra $15.00 tip, paying it forward in a very easy way. It made us feel so good. The waitress hugged us, which my friend really liked, so all around great things happening!!!!!!


Her "friend" was my daughter.
 
When I read the post, I cried. Unexpected kindness has that kind of power.

Maybe the tears came because someone chose to buy my daughter lunch as a random act of kindness at the holiday season. Or because it reminded me once again of the goodness in people. Or maybe because of all the times people have seen only my daughter's disabilities and not her beauty and humor and bravery.
 

Or maybe because this has been a very tough year for our family, a year of loss and estrangement, and this random act of kindness came at just the right time. The very next morning, DH paid it forward at Dunkin' Donuts, hoping that the chain of unexpected kindnesses would multiply.

As we head into 2015, my resolution is to continue to pay it forward in a small way each day.
photo from modernpilgrim blog


    Wishing each of you a New Year full of good health and many random acts of kindness to warm your winter days . . .
     

4 comments:

  1. I think that is awesome Cheryl. I have heard from friends of random acts of kindness done to them too. It is a good thing to do anywhere or time. Blessings to you!

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  2. Cheryl, sometimes we forget how much paying it forward can mean to someone! What a sweet thing to happen. I promise to pay it forward this month!
    hugs,
    Linda

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  3. When I had a carpenter cut down our kitchen table, he did a beautiful job and then told us that he had to basically rebuild the table, but only charged us the original estimate which was much less. He then told us to "pay it forward", which we did when we donated our dining room set to a struggling young couple. It really does feel good to give rather than receive! Thanks for your inspirational post that proves that random acts of kindness spread joy all around. I hope you have a very happy new year, Cheryl!
    Vickie

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  4. This is such a marvelous post, it filled my heart,
    Thank God there are people that really care.
    Happy New Year, yvonne

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