I hope I'm the only one that has one of these once in a while.

Last week it was one of those days. Nothing particular triggered it, but it was a day of reflection and that was not a good thing to do, but once you're there, you're there.

I spent the day traveling a lot covering stories in the southern part of the county and here and in between and making about 5 trips throughout the day, which is a lot. Unfortunately, that gives me a lot of thinking time. So I did what I always do and popped in some of my favorite music, and that worked until a country song came on and then I found myself back to square one. So I changed the disc and got a little bit happier again.

Finishing up all of my work, running one last errand of the day, just because I was NOT in the mood to go home to the lousy company that lives at my house I went shopping. Now shopping is a new area I'm just starting to enjoy. Too much. My idea of going crazy is buying raspberries when they are crazy expensive just because I want some fresh ones and frozen ones just don't cut it. You know, crazy stuff like that. I walked past some flowers in the store and thought, "I should buy some of those and cheer myself up." The problem is that I hate flowers. So I'm having this dialogue about WHY I hate flowers while checking out.

Since it's almost 10:30 p.m. and the last thing I ate was breakfast, I went to the drive-thru, the worst place ever to eat at my age. Still stewing and feeling pretty bummed, I sat in line pondering what I could do to make myself feel happy. And then I remembered.

A couple of years ago, deep in the heart of Texas, I found the best thing to make me feel good. It was a good thing I got back to Iowa or I'd go broke doing it, but it was addicting.

I don't remember when it first happened, but I know WHY it happened. Living in the middle of military friends and family for a few months, did nothing but make my appreciation for these people in uniform go through the roof. Everywhere I went, I'd see old men with a veteran hat, young kids in their fatigues, I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with a group of retired military gals and listen to their stories. So while traveling back to Iowa when I went into a restaurant I'd start casing the place for more uniforms. It extended to cops as well. When I found one, I paid for their meal.

There is NOTHING like pulling that off on a table of four that you know from the total, money was tight for them. Or it's seeing an officer toward the end of his shift slowly walk to a booth and sit down and you know it was a rough day for him.

So tonight as I sat at the drive thru waiting for my food I noticed the lady behind me had a handicapped tag hanging on her mirror. She looked older than I, I was going to say old, but I'm there, so it's now, older than I. I pulled up and asked the lady how much the car behind me was. She told me the total, and I told her I'd pay that one as well. "Do you know her?" the gal in the window asked? "Nope!" I replied. "Awww...that is so cool!" she said, "That is the best thing ever!" I didn't realize that I was going to make her happy too, but it did make me smile a bit bigger. I watched as the lady behind me pulled up and she received her bag and there was a discussion happening. Not wanting to be flagged down I hurried out of the lot and grinned all the way home.

I remembered some of the times that I've done that and how every time it made at least 3 people happy, and all I thought was of the two, the person that I helped and myself, forgetting the partner in crime, the check out person.

So now I know what to do when I'm having a rotten no good day, pay it forward. Not the rotten and no good part, but just the good part. Do something good. It's hard for happy and sad to live in the same heart for long!

And forget the flowers, most of the time they stink like chemicals anyway.

Next Opinion Article
It's Labor Day - Get off the Computer!

Previous Opinion Article
Shut the front door...or don't

Comments

Submit a Comment

Please refresh the page to leave Comment.

Still seeing this message? Press Ctrl + F5 to do a "Hard Refresh".

VB August 30, 2019, 5:14 pm What a wonderful thing to do for all 3 of you. Have a GREAT weekend.
MR August 30, 2019, 7:53 pm Good for you!
KD August 31, 2019, 11:14 am Great read! thanks for making me smile and keep up the good work.
BB September 1, 2019, 12:49 pm Awww. What a sweet story. Now you have just made my day too! Thanks Val and I also hope to pay it forward!