Pay it Forward...

It's been a little while since I have had this feeling. You know the feeling you get when someone completely unexpectedly does something so sweet, simple, and purely from the goodness of their heart! I am so grateful for these moments. God knew we needed extra thoughtful people on earth to help remind us of his love.

Today a friend I work with brought me a Diet Coke. You are probably thinking .....what is the big deal it's just a Diet Coke. This friend is someone I work with and usually see on a daily basis but we don't always visit. We aren't extremely close but we are friends. I believe that made the gesture mean even more to me.

Yesterday while I was getting water for the water table we were visiting and I was saying how good a Diet Coke sounded. She reminded me of the beverage machine in the Rec. Lobby but it is a Pepsi machine. I shared that I wasn't a big Pepsi fan that actually I would rather nothing if it had to be Diet Pepsi. She felt the same way. She is also a Coke fan. We talked about it a little more and had a very casual conversation. Well this morning at school I was visiting with another teacher in the office and she walked by and said I dropped off a Diet Coke for you in your room. You would have thought someone gave me a million dollars with the expression on my face. I explained that I wanted to bring a diet coke with my coffee this morning but all I had at home was a 1 liter so it didn't work out. I was so excited! I thanked her over and over again. I carried my Diet Coke around like a prized possession and shared the story with anyone willing to listen. As I sat and waited for my first parent conference I drank my special Diet Coke and thought more about how sweet it was of her to bring it. She previously shared that she preferred Coke rather than diet Coke so I began to wonder did she have the diet Coke at her house or did she make a special trip to pick it up. It made the delightful drink even more special. As I finished the diet coke I thought about how much the simple gesture meant to me and I thought about "paying it forward" to someone else. In between parent conferences I ran to Walgreen's to pick up a few things. As I was checking out I noticed that the trail mix I was buying was on sale $2/4. I grabbed another bag (I also had a coupon for $1 off 2 bags LOL). I remembered that my next parent coming for a conference shared how much she liked trail mix on FB one day. I eagerly anticipated her conference so I could "pay it forward". After our conference I handed her the bag and smiled and said just because. She smiled in return and thanked me. Her reaction showed that she was just a surprised and appreciative as I was. We talked about how much we liked trail mix and whether it was okay to snack on or not (fat and calorie content). As she left I felt the same happy feeling I felt when my generous friend brought me the diet coke. I honestly believe that was the best diet coke I have had in a very long time!

Thank you Connie for an amazing Diet Coke!!