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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMy 82-year-old mother just told me what happened to her on Christmas Eve...
Over the last three weeks, my mother has complained over the phone to me about how she just couldn't get in the mood for Christmas this year. She didn't want it, she didn't care for it, she just wanted it to be over. We talked about it, with me reassuring her it would come -- but it never did.
Then, on Christmas Eve, she went out to do some last minute shopping. Since she did not want to worry about her purse, she decided to carry all of her cards in the pockets of her jeans. In one front pocket, she put her driver's license and medical ID card. Then she took a one hundred dollar bill, wrapped it neatly around two credit cards and stuck them in her other front pocket. While shopping at the first stop, she decided to buy something for $2.01. That's when she noticed her one hundred dollar bill was missing. She retraced her steps; she dug in her pants over and over, but she just couldn't find it. She was baffled. The cards were still there, only the $100.00 was gone. Frustrated and bewildered (how in the world did that happen? It was neatly wrapped around the cards!!!), she went ahead with her shopping.
Next, she headed to Walmart for some kitchen staples -- flour, sugar, etc. She said the lines were very, very long. While standing there, thinking about what could've happened to her money and feeling the financial loss, she noticed a tiny, elderly woman in a shopper's wheelchair at the neighboring checkout. The checkout attendant was taking things OUT of the shopping bags and removing them from the purchase. My mother noticed that it was all food to make a Christmas dinner --the same kind of things that my mother was purchasing. Only it wasn't just a couple of items -- it was the whole dinner. When the cashier's total finally reached a sum which the woman could afford, there was very little left. My mother leaned over and asked the attendant why she was removing the items. "Because she doesn't have enough money to pay for them." My mother looked at the lady, bent over in her chair, and said, "Please ring them back up, I'd like to pay this woman's bill." My mother said her decision held up both lines as the items were re-tallied. No one said a word of complaint. They all watched as the items were given to the woman. The woman beamed a toothless grin at my mother and thanked her. My Mother smiled back and said, "I hope you have a very Merry Christmas." In that moment, my mother was awash in the Christmas spirit. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she felt so grateful.
That evening, while getting undressed, the hundred dollars fell out of my mother's pocket.
Geoff R. Casavant
(2,381 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)I bet a lot of priests/pastors would love to use it in a sermon!
housewolf
(7,252 posts)Such generosity is all too rare in today's world. Your mother is truly an angel.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)monmouth
(21,078 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)and I think of them daily since then as if they were these angels I saw with my own eyes. Such random acts of kindness are the greatest thing there is.
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)was stationed at an Air Force base in MT. Nice little place where people are friendly. Any way my husband and the chaplain he was with had to go to another post for a conference. They decised to go out to eat. They were sitting at the counter and he overheard a waitress talking to her mother about her adopting this baby. She was short about $200.00 and was really in a bad situation. Any she walked away and my husband was talking with her mother about it. He called me and asked if it would be ok to write a check and would I mind. I told him to do it. He asked the girl the information she needed and wrote a check. She thought he might want something from her. Of course he didn't. He gave a the check and walked away never to hear from her. I often wondered what happened with the adoption. We felt we helped somebody and that was all. You see my husband was adopted when he was 4 yrs old. So it meant something to him. I always hope things went well for them.
Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)I never take a purse shopping.
I always but a rubber band (the strong type usually found on a head of broccoli) around my debit card, drivers license and folded money before putting them into my pocket.
Works nicely and keeps everything all together.
Historic NY
(37,458 posts)EC
(12,287 posts)$$ and cards. That's what I use. In the winter I always wear a jacket with an inside pocket and that's where everything important goes. I just don't carry purses...I had a habit of misplacing them.
Lisa D
(1,532 posts)Your mom sounds like a special lady.
liberalmuse
(18,672 posts)Damn you. That is a beautiful story!
tooeyeten
(1,074 posts)thanks for sharing it, and the lesson of "it always pays to be nice and caring" in so many ways we can't imagine.
ornotna
(10,808 posts)Thank you for sharing your story.
polmaven
(9,463 posts)Your mother displayed the true spirit of Christmas, IMO. She is a wonderful woman, obviously!
noel711
(2,185 posts)Every year I struggle with how to reach, at Christmas, folks who wander in the church.
I try not to spend time on stories of sentimentality, nor on 'sweetness and magic,'
but on real people coping with the struggle of life.
A sermon shouldn't be a wagging of the finger at folks, but storytelling
to drawn them into connecting with others.
This is a wonderful story, and your mother is terrific.
FourScore
(9,704 posts)Thank you for asking.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)We hit about ten stores, she pulls the "I can't pay" routine, and we clean up. Some years, the haul is mid-four digits.
newspeak
(4,847 posts)all those devious poor and homeless people, all cons I tell ya!
And I would still help those even though one might be a con. Because there are a lot more who will not be.
Maraya1969
(22,509 posts)What a great story!
liberal N proud
(60,352 posts)Fair Witness
(119 posts)Only way it would have been better if it was at Costco instead of Wally World.
emilyg
(22,742 posts)Mother is.
AnotherMother4Peace
(4,260 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)BlueMTexpat
(15,374 posts)I remember being a grad student (single parent with two kids) in the 1970s and having to remove basic items (all that I could afford) because I had forgotten to account for the sales tax. The budget never stretched to anything beyond the basics.
I'll never forget those years although I have come a long way since then.
shanti
(21,675 posts)god bless your mother!
joshcryer
(62,287 posts)no_hypocrisy
(46,287 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)NBachers
(17,183 posts)MissDeeds
(7,499 posts)Like your mom, I have not had the Christmas spirit. That changed tonight as I read your post.
Please give your mom a hug for me. What a terrific lady!
FirstLight
(13,367 posts)thanks for sharing that "goodwill towards men" moment. they are sometimes few and far between.
and give your mom a huge hug from us!
(my youngest son (8) had a interesting assignment at school, if you could be a christmas gift, what would you be? he wrote a whole paragraph on how he wished he was a cure for cancer because our sweet neighbor is sick and he misses seeing he in the yard and hopes she will get better... sometimes a big heart is the best thing ever!)
robinlynne
(15,481 posts)GoddessOfGuinness
(46,435 posts)Thanks for sharing it!
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)thank you so much to you and your mother!
sueh
(1,829 posts)KT2000
(20,602 posts)what a sweet person your mom is.
Thanks for sharing this.
marasinghe
(1,253 posts)\~/
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)SpiralHawk
(32,944 posts)thank you
malaise
(269,265 posts)Hug your mom for me
WillParkinson
(16,862 posts)But your story really lifted my mood. Thank you and please thank your mom for me.
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)Isn't this why we cherish Social Security?
Isn't this why we are willing to pay taxes?
Isn't this what makes us compassionate?
Isn't this what the world should be?
I can't help but think that your mom is like many others. Not an isolated instance. Even so, it makes your mother very special.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)Zhade
(28,702 posts)That's a wonderful story. : )
siligut
(12,272 posts)Thank you for sharing.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)We did something different this year. We helped out at a homeless shelter for Christmas lunch. It's not much, but we felt better about helping people.
RueVoltaire
(84 posts)Howler
(4,225 posts)This gives me the X-mas spirit all over again.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Mira
(22,380 posts)That it happened "so fast" is a nice by product. Karma can be more slow at times.
I once had a camera, a good point and shoot, that I on the spur of the moment gave to my young nephew whose parents could not afford to buy him one. It made his life so much better, he has a great eye for photography.
I had an old one at home that was broken and that I was long going to send to Canon to maybe get repaired.
I pulled it out once back home, and it fully worked as if nothing had ever been wrong.
It still does, I used it yesterday, a year later now.
Nice!!!
Expect the best.