My Wal-Mart Experience

So I leave the gym today with both of my children. We needed to finish up the grocery shopping from  yesterday. I needed to get Chris some air freshener for his car so I decided to just finish up at Wal-Mart rather than Publix. (By the way I forgot his air freshener - my whole reason for going to WM). It was pouring down rain. I waited for a bit in the van to see if it would pass and it didn't so we braved it. No big deal. My children love to run through the rain without an umbrella - which we had, but what fun is that?

So, it starts with a mini meltdown from Kadie because she wanted to sit in the cart that has the 2 seats in the front, but it was soaking wet. By the time we got to the dairy section she was calm. Then Chris calls me to tell me that some great news we got earlier in the day wasn't quite as great as we thought it was. So I was a little stressed but trying to make the most of it. I truly loathe going to Wal-Mart and that alone puts me in a bad mood (yes I am moody). Well, of course I forgot my list so I kept trekking back and forth trying to remember everything. A brief trip took forever because I was frazzled and disorganized. The kids were amazingly well behaved after K's mini meltdown.

We get in the line to check-out. Harrison is being cute and polite and Kadie is just being cute. It is our turn, so I load up all my stuff on the conveyor belt thingy with H's help. So I push my cart over to the side of the spinny thing with bags so I can load the bags. This elderly gentleman starts to walk my way. He has a cane and it literally took him a minute to get from the bench (which was probably 15-20 feet from me). I had just placed a bag in our cart. He is walking right towards us. I think that he surely is confused? He doesn't know us? Maybe he thinks he knows us? There was a lady behind us...maybe he is with her? He proceeds to stop at the bag spinny thing and hands me every single bag. He slowly and carefully hands me each bag so I can put it in my cart without having to walk back and forth. This was the sweetest gesture I have had from a complete stranger in quite some time. I thanked him and told him how kind he was. He told me he was a bag boy his whole life and would still do it "if he wasn't all crippled".

Now this may seem small and insignificant and perhaps I could have done it faster myself. He was a very frail man. But the fact is, it was kind. Good old fashioned chivalry at its best. He saw a lady with 2 small children and decided to help. It made my whole day. Thank you God for placing such a kind man in my path today that made me feel God's love.

After this random encounter I started thinking how I should act upon kind thoughts that enter my head. I think of kind things to do all the time - but the thoughts are fleeting. I used to do it all the time in high school. Why don't I anymore? Because I'm a frazzled housewife wrapped up in my daily life? Lame. So from now on I'm going to act on it. If I think I should send someone a card or email I will do it. I will never slack on thank you notes anymore. If I want to surprise someone with some tie dyed cuteness, I will do it. I will do it because God has given me the ability to do so and in a small way it is showing the love of God. Just being kind can totally make a person's day.