What A Difference You've Made...

Went to WalMart the other night for the obligatory shopping trip. Actually hadn't been in a while.....the last two weeks at work have been insane. I've not gotten home before 9:30 hardly any night, plus had to work one of the Saturdays. So as a result, I've not gotten hardly anything taken care of, and I needed a few things from the store to assist in my day-to-day survival. So, off to Mansfield Mom and I went.

We had been shopping about 4 hours or more, and were pretty tired and ready to go home. Fortunately, we got in Debbie's checkout line. I go to this WalMart a lot, and there have actually been times I've walked up and down the checkouts to see if Debbie is working. Why? Because she seems to be an awesome individual. First of all, she does her job well. She keeps her line moving. And she is always, always, always as friendly as you could want. Much more so than the ones that frown and growl and seem to hate their jobs. She was as chipper as ever that night...Mom commented on how happy she seemed. "Hey, life is what you make it," she said. "They ain't gonna dictate to me how my emotions should go. I'm happy to be alive!"

What an awesome lady.

I don't know if she knows how her attitude is a lift to mine when I go through that line exhausted and wore out from dragging all over the store. But I'm going to write management out there and tell them. Surely they know it, but just in case nobody's acknowledged it....I want to Debbie to know she makes a difference.

Going home we got to talking about the last time our church ladies group made pumpkin rolls. We go to Sam's Club and buy like 400 pounds of sugar and cream cheese and eggs and flour....people stare a lot at us during that trip and about half of the store strikes up a conversation trying to guess what we're making.

Well, last time we had a flatbed full, and I guess I was having a bit of trouble after I had loaded off about half of the sugar and flour and stuff. I heard this man standing in the next aisle handed his items to his son and said "Hold this...I'll be right back." Suddenly the 25 pound bag of sugar I was trying to heave up to the counter was light as a feather as he took hold of it. "Here," he said, "let me get the rest of that."

The kindness of a stranger. I thanked him several times before he and his son paid for their goods and vanished into the world...how often I wish I'd have gotten his name and took him a pumpkin roll. I pray God repays him somewhere in life for his kindness.

Tonight I helped Mammy fling buckets of water out of her pool so we could try and get the hose in it to drain. She helped me get my "new" $35 lawnmower in the trunk of my car and to my house, and move and assemble some furniture to boot. The world seems so much better we all just take a few minutes to help each other out, doesn't it?

So, when I'm feeling grumpy or grouchy or whatever the sour mood is, I try to keep in mind Debbie and the mystery pumpkin roll man. Because if they can take the time to make somebody's day a little better, surely I can too!