Paying it forward....

December 24, 2012 ~ Today I took something I normally do and blended it with something I felt compelled to do and the end result... My heart was happy! Since the tragic news in Newtown, CT of 26 lives taken much too soon from this earth I wanted to do a random act of kindness to benefit 26 people. I gave it some serious thought and decided that I wanted to pay for 26 random cars going through the Starbucks I always go to in Columbia, MO. so this morning I made up 26 of these cards, drove to Starbucks and purchased a $200 gift card (to cover the cost of beverages as we didn't know how much all of this would cost) and gave the ladies the gift card and these cards each marked with a number to start "Paying It Forward"!

As I sat inside drinking my hot chocolate (I had to make sure they had enough money otherwise I would have left) it took about 4 cars to go through the drive thru to get started as those people had paid for the person behind them... what a wonderful feeling as it's something I do each time I go to Starbucks! Once it got started you could hear the employee tell the recipient that their drink(s) were free today and handed them a card and then awesome comments started! "Oh my gosh, really someone did this!" or "What a great surprise... Thank you!" It warmed my heart to know that such a simple gesture on a busy day could really make someone's day so much brighter!

I didn't do this for the recognition but rather to remember those 26 precious lives taken away from their families and community way too soon. I hope they are smiling down from heaven knowing that I am only one of many that has done 26 Acts of Random Kindness in their honor.