Each month I have been bringing you the real life experiences of how random acts of kindness have shaped the lives of others. From the unexpected gifts to the life saving donations of blood these gestures from strangers have had long term consequences for those on the receiving and and this month we hear from Danielle from Bee-ing mommy about how the kindness of a stranger on one of her first outings with her new baby restored her faith in humanity.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
I have always read about random acts of kindness, seen them in movies and even witnessed a few growing up from a stranger stopping to ask if everything was okay after a wreck to my mom picking up a lady that was thrown out of her car on the side of the road to giving clothes to someone in need. I always thought it was nice to see that there are still generous people in this crazy world we live in but it makes all the difference when you are the recipient of a random act of kindness.
It was January 1, 2017. My family wasn’t able to go out to dinner on New Years Eve so we decided to bring in the new year by going out to eat at Outback Steakhouse mainly because we had gotten gift cards to the restaurant for Christmas. This was one of the first times eating out as a family of five. I had a two month old, one year old and a newly three year old at the time so needless to say it was easier to eat at home than have the hostess look at you like a crazy person when you say you need a sling, high chair and a booster seat. Since we had my two month old son, we had been in and out of the hospital with him trying to find out what was causing him problems so it had been a rough two months and we were looking forward to what the new year would bring us.
The hostess sat us in the corner next to a large party of people. Since we were celebrating the new year and had gift cards we decided to go all out and order an appetizer which we don’t usually do along with our meals. Since it was the first day of the new year, the restaurant was fairly busy which means it takes longer to get your food. If you have kids then you know that the coloring books only last so long before they are all riled up and wanting food. I don’t remember all the specifics but I do know that the coloring books were thrown on the ground, one of my kids started fussing and making some noise and the baby woke up because it was time to eat. I stared to notice people at the table next to us staring our way so instantly I think “oh no, we are ruining their dinner, this is why we don’t take three kids under the age of three to a nice restaurant.” Moments later the food arrived so everyone was happy again. We were then approached by the man that was sitting at the table next to us. He proceeded to tell us how well behaved our children were and that he bought our meal. At the time I missed the whole “he bought our meal” part because he mumbled it as he was walking away and waving goodbye but he bought out meal. A meal that was probably around $50. I never caught his name and wish I had know at the time but I want to thank him for helping 2017 get off to a good start and showing that there are still good people out there.
To some people you may read this and think so what, a stranger bought your meal, you had gift cards you were planning to use anyway but to my family it was a big deal. Yes this meant that we could now go back to Outback and enjoy another meal but the man had no idea that we had gift cards. He had no idea that the last two months had been very stressful. He had no idea that this was one of our first times eating out as a family of five. To me I was sitting there thinking my children were interrupting his meal but to him he saw a young family with well behaved children not on there cell phones and enjoying family time together. Yes paying for someones meal and giving them a compliment may not sound like a lot but to me it was huge; I mean my kids are well behaved in the eyes of other people which meant that I was succeeding at this whole parenting thing. When you experience a random act of kindness no matter how big or small it may be, you are happy inside and it automatically makes you have a good rest of the day. It makes you want to pay it forward so someone else can experience the same feeling; so spread the love and be that bit of happiness in someone else’s life!