I struggled with whether or not to post this story or not, but decided to go ahead. This is a little more “personal” in my opinion than I normally like to go online, but I just had to share how important this moment was for me.
As most of you know, my husband is a LEO, which means crappy work hours…. kidding, but no seriously. A lot of times the only way we get to see him is if we meet him at work for a meal, or a quick “oh heeeeyyyy” while running my errands and he’s in between calls, or if he meets us at the park in the city. (That is one of my personal favorites since he can watch G play and swing her on the swings until he gets a call.) I love watching them interact during those moments and try to meet him as much as I can so they can have some special daddy/daughter bonding even if sometimes its super short. It’s better than not seeing him at all that day!
Anyways, Sunday night we were lucky enough to meet him for dinner at a yummy pizza joint. When we went to pay our bill, our waiter informed us that someone had paid for our entire meal because, “he noticed you in uniform”. Now, we are obviously more than capable of paying for our own meal and are most definitely not a charity case… I could literally think of a million people more deserving of a free meal than us. However, given the stress of the job due to recent times, and his, pardon my fancy french, shitty schedule, this mystery man showing his appreciation and respect in an amazingly generous way hit my heart hard.
Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, or the lack of sleep caused by my early bird of a riser toddler, but I was actually almost in tears. We were so taken aback and so grateful for this mysterious man’s generosity… He blessed our family that night and gave us a beautiful glimmer of hope in a society that is always making you wonder.
We prayed a few extra prayers for that man that night and thanked God for his blessing and for God to bless that man back in return.
I find myself so grateful, not only for his generosity but for the inspiration for my week. What a beautiful, real world example of doing something nice and generous just simply out of the desire to do it. Not for recognition… not for praise… not to prove a point… not for any sort of acknowledgment other then to bless a family that night. Of course we hear about it at Church on Sundays, in our prayer time, and meditations, but to see real world examples of good, kindhearted people really gets your attention. He gave me the inspiration to look for opportunities to show my appreciation, respect, and kindness in my everyday life. To give generously without the expectation of anything in return. My heart burst with gratitude and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
So…
Dear Mystery Man,
Thank you for your generous gift to my family Sunday night. I pray that you somehow know how much we truly appreciated your kind gesture. I don’t know your age, your marital status, your living situation, your race, what kind of car you drive, where you work, how much money you make, or what your life is like. All of that is irrelevant. We saw your character. The waiter witnessed your heart. We were the grateful recipients of your kindness, your character! We promise as a family to continue the same generosity you have shown us. We will likely never “meet”, but know my little family is praying for you. Imagine, if we all continued to live our lives as this… oh, how the world could change!
xo – J
