Let's Continue to Pay it Forward

I’ve always prided myself in doing good things for others when possible, but little did I know the generosity of an unseen couple in Renton would make me more aware then ever of things going on around me. It all began during the busiest time of the year, last December. A couple of weeks before Christmas and I was thrilled because the swiftness of the holiday had not attacked me. I had refused to allow myself to become overly stressed, and had started my holiday shopping months earlier. In fact, as I pulled in to the parking lot of the Landing Red Robin I felt wonderful. This year the Christmas cards had been mailed early, the house was decorated, presents wrapped…Yes, I was ready. The distinctive aroma of those Red Robin burgers was detected as I navigated my vehicle in to the parking spot that became available as an oversized truck backed out. Turning my vehicle off, I opened my door, and hopped out.  My eyes were met instantaneously with a look
of anger by a female who had opened her passenger door on the truck that had
just backed out of the spot I sat in. Her mouth was moving, but I could not
hear what she was saying. Suddenly, my youngest daughter exclaimed “mom I think they were planning to park in this spot.” I didn’t know what was going on but wondered if my peaceful holiday season was about to get nasty.

“I had no idea they wanted this spot. They just pulled out of it,” I explained to my daughter. However, because I in no way intended to steal a parking spot and wanted to set a good example for my girls I hopped back in my vehicle, motioned towards the couple and started backing my truck out. They could have the spot. It was then that I observed the male driver shaking his head, while waving for me to keep the spot. He pointed at another spot he was moving his vehicle into, and I noticed it appeared larger and probably a better fit for the oversized truck. After exiting our vehicle, my girls and I headed towards the restaurant front door while engrossed in conversation, I noted we were behind the couple that had previously been in our spot. I didn’t give the situation another thought, we did not look at each other or exchange words. All I saw was the back of their heads.

Near the end of our meal, our waiter came and handed me a napkin. He politely explained that our meal had been paid for, and the napkin contained a note from someone at a nearby table. He pointed towards a table, and coincidentally there was no one sitting there. I laughed assuming that the restaurant was taking care of our meal as a holiday giveaway. Our waiter assured me that someone else was paying for the meal and the napkin would explain it all. Opening the napkin, I gasped as I read the note. It was from the couple that was in the truck; they apologized for the misunderstanding, had paid for our meal, and sent us Merry Christmas wishes. I looked around repeatedly, as I slid the note over to my girls to read. The surprising thing for me is if I had been asked to give a complete description of what the couple looked like, I could not have done it. Here they had gone, and performed a generous act that made my day and I couldn’t picture their faces.

Over the next couple of weeks I thought about the couple in the restaurant often and how good their actions made me feel. I wanted to pass that feeling on to someone else, so I decided I would. The location I picked to do so was at a local Starbuck’s. While in the drive-thru, I glanced in my side mirror and noticed the lady behind me wore a scowl look upon her face. In fact, she looked angry at the world, and I decided though I did not know her, I was going to pick her as my special person of the day and purchase what she ordered. The person working the window was surprised when I told them what I was doing and paid the bill. My only request was that they ask them to do the same for someone else in need one day. As I drove off it felt great, and I knew I would periodically deliver surprise gifts to various individuals and create special days for them as well.