Random Acts Of Kindness

Last night we celebrated Patri's birthday because I'll miss it when I'm in Virginia; actually it falls just after I leave. And so Patri, Jordan, Kelly and I went out to eat.

But this is not the point of the story. The point of the story is this...

She and I have been talking for a while about how great it would be to go to a restaurant and buy someone else's dinner for them just because. Last night we went out with the intention of doing this. There was a man and a young girl, presumably his daughter, eating across the room from us. We just told our server that we wanted to purchase their meal without them knowing who the gift was from. When their server informed them that someone else had paid their tab, they both looked pleasantly surprised. They were looking around the restaurant on their way out...perhaps to see someone they knew or for the benevolent culprit to come forward.

It was a great feeling for me personally to see that. I just hope it gave their evening a boost. This is something I definitely want to do more frequently; it's good to be on Karma's good side. And besides, it made me feel like a nice person and that's always fun. Here's what happened with them in my fantasy world...This was a father and his daughter. They decided to go out to dinner just the two of them so they could have a little more bonding time. She looked about 13 years old, so it's a very important time in her life to know for certain that people love her and he knows that so he likes to do small things with her like take her out to dinner on random Tuesday evenings. When some random stranger paid for their meal it made them even happier and made them feel just that much better about spending time together, so when they left the restaurant they didn't go straight home. Instead, they walked across the street to the mall or they went to a movie or they played miniature golf. Either way, this glow (that everyone gets when given a nice gift) made them laugh more...talk more...grow more together.

Ahhh...That's how I see it. Some people call me a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. Actually, no one calls me a dreamer. But I am.