by Ashley
With all the “poor me” attitude I’ve had lately (see here), I just have to share a super kind thing that happened to me last night.
After this conversation about teacher gifts, it sounded like the best thing to do was get each teacher a $5 gift card, a nice note, and a hand-colored picture from the girls.
So Friday we decided to drive around and look at Christmas lights as a family. We turned on some Christmas tunes and headed to Starbucks. I was going to spend from my eating out budget to indulge in a couple hot chocolates for hubs and I, and use from my other budget to buy the $15 worth of gift cards for our kids’ 3 teachers. We place our order, pull up to the window, and are informed that the car in front of us paid for our entire order – including the gift cards!!!!
Hearing about these “pay it forward” lines is so commonplace now and, yet, I’ve never had one happen to me. I was floored! Of course we paid for the car behind us, but their total was only a whopping $5 (compared to ours, which was going to be $22).
I still feel guilty about having the car in front of us pay for our entire order! If it had just been drinks I wouldn’t feel so bad, but I feel guilty about them essentially buying our teacher gifts for us.
With all the big spending we’ve been doing lately (on root canal, car repairs, etc.), I’m going to take some time this weekend to count my blessings and be thankful for the kindness of strangers!
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
Awesome. I hope you have a quiet weekend.
Enjoy the good with as much attention and passion as you give to the bad.
What a beautiful sentiment! I will surely try (not just now, but throughout the coming year as well)!