Ukraine Adoption

A random act

Tara and I stopped at this little party store yesterday on the way home from her school. It was small, tucked away, in a modest part of town. I realized that I didn't have any cash on me, just some change at the bottom of my purse and my credit cards and I knew she really wanted a snack and a drink for the drive home. I pulled into the bumpy lot next to an older-model Buick that was sitting low.

We went inside and and she was looking at and touching a lot of different candies and treats, asking if she could have this or that. I kept explaining to her, "Tara, mommy is cash poor today, you can only get one snack and one drink." "I only have $1.70 in change, pick something small."

So we get in line to pay and she is still picking up little things from the aisle right by the register. "Put it down, honey, I don't have enough money on me for all of that," I said.

The woman at the front of the line turned around with her newly purchased items and came right up close to me and placed 45 cents into my hands. "For your little girl," she whispered. At first, I thought it was maybe some money that I had dropped, then I realized her random act of kindness and I just smiled and said thank you so much.

I looked at Tara and me, wondering why this woman thought we needed her 45 cents, and then, I had to chuckle. Tara was wearing her spare clothes from school because she got her original fancy outfit dirty---her daisy pants were way too short, her sparkle shoes were all scuffed up and her pink Tigger the Tiger t-shirt was worn out. My work blazer was in bad shape, too; I had spilled coffee on it and tried to get the stain out with soap and paper towels so the dried up stain was big and bad. I also got caught in the rain earlier in the day so my hair was a mess. Imagine how we looked in this little store off the beaten path.

We paid for our stuff and went outside and there was the kind lady in her car with the window down, starting up the engine. It was the older-model Buick that sits low to the ground. I picked up Tara and told her to thank the nice lady for helping pay for her snack. Tara delivered her sweet smile. The lady returned the smile and said you're welcome.