Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Paying it Forward



Long, long ago, when I was a kid, my family went through a period of time when we didn’t have much.  Although my parents were pretty good about keeping that sort of thing away from us kids, I was old enough to know that Dad being sick and not having a job while Mom was in school was not a good thing.

One evening, just before the holidays, some strangers came to our house.  They brought turkey, food and little gifts for us.  I knew what this meant.  Overwhelmed with a variety of emotions, I tried my best not to cry.

Fast forward a couple of decades.  A friend of mine (“T”) and her kids were recovering from a horrific situation (so bad that it deserves a blog post of its own).  Although they had a roof over their heads, they didn’t have much else.  Another friend of mine, DH and I pooled our money and got a few things for them:  gift cards for a gas station, a clothing store and a grocery store, plus bags of gift-wrapped goodies for the kids.  We had so much fun shopping for the goodies!  There were lots of little things:  kid scissors, crayons, glue, sparkly pencils, glitter, little cars and dolls, you name it.  It took me hours to wrap them all separately, but I was smiling the entire time.

When I met up with T and gave her everything, I told her, “When I was a kid, someone helped us.  Now, it’s our turn to help you.”  Overwhelmed with a variety of emotions, we tried our best not to cry.  It didn’t work too well.

14 comments:

  1. I've always been big on the pay it forward thing. Don't you wish everyone felt this way? Bless you for helping a family in need.

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  2. I'd have cried too...what a wonderful thing to do for your friends. They are lucky to know you.

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  3. OMG I'm teary-eyed just reading this. You have a heart of gold, and your actions will never be forgotten by the family you so selflessly helped during the holidays.

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  4. pay it forward...great idea! i love putting deposits in the karma bank..
    great post!

    Bruce
    Bruce Johnson JADIP
    Evil Twin
    stupid stuff I see and hear
    The Dreamodeling Guy
    dreamodeling!
    The Guy Book
    The Guy Book

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  5. This is awesome! I think it was truly great of you to pay it forward. This world would be so much kinder if we could band together as one and help each other when we're down!

    CBG
    canadianbloggergirl.blogspot.com

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  6. That's an awesome story. There ought to be more people like you doing such wonderful things for their friends. :o)

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  7. If people had any idea how good a Random Act of Kindness makes you feel...they would do it all the time! Well done!

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  8. That was a beautiful thing you did for your friend and her family. Let's you know that there are still awesome people in the world.

    a bitch called mom
    the well fed spirit

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  9. Wow, thanks for the great comments, everyone! My next post will be the story behind it. It's a downer, but important nonetheless. :-)

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  10. We make a point to do it every year at Christmas, because we are fortunate enough that we can.

    It means so much. Kudos to you for thinking of others.

    :-)

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  11. That was a really wonderful thing to do. I subscribe to the 'what comes around goes around' theory and use it in a positive way. If you do a good deed you'll always receive something positive in return.
    XOXO

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  12. It is amazing how much happiness such kindness can give.

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  13. Thats a great act of kindness.......maybe this will trigger a few more good deeds..

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