Best Sunday Ever

Yesterday, after church, and because Sundays are special to me, I decided to treat myself to a Starbucks coffee even though I had coffee at home. As I drove to the order window, I decided to also order bacon egg bites, I needed protein, right? Now this was a splurge because I am on a cash envelope budget, which means I can only buy something with cash and the cash has to be designated for a specific budgeted purpose. I had $20 for the rest of the month in my “coffee & eating out” envelope. I placed my order and slowly inched forward in the line to the pay window. On the way, I thought, “What if I pay for someone behind me?” Thoughts popping in my head: “You don’t have enough money”, “That would be a nice thing to do”, “But you won’t have any more money for the rest of the month”…the voices in my head arguing with each other.

When I reached the window, I asked the lady “I’d like to pay for the car behind me.” She answered, “He’s already paid, it was a called in order.” “Ok, how about the person behind him, What did they order?” “That order was a pumpkin spice latte,” was the answer. “Perfect”, I said, “I will pay for that person.” That made me feel pretty good. I thought, it must be a girl, would a man order a pumpkin spice latte? But, truthfully, who knows? So off I went with my own order, a few dollars less in my wallet, and happy.

Later that day, my son asked me to come over for dinner, something we do most Sundays. I usually bring a homemade dessert but instead I made my favorite creamy scalloped potatoes and headed over. On the way, I called and asked if he wanted dessert. Yes. So I stopped at the grocery store, not bothering to take a cart. No one was behind the pastry counter. It seemed they were short staffed so I took my time deciding on which three pastries to purchase. Finally, a young man came over to take my order. One Chocolate Bomb, one Lemon Layer Cake slice, and one Pecan Bar. He wore a Packers sweatshirt so I asked him if he knew the Packer player who just purchased a farm outside of Green Bay so he could house abandoned dogs there. “So many good people in the world,” I commented and he agreed. We chatted while he packed up my desserts. He placed each dessert in separate clear container, and handed them to me. I thanked him. They were stacked one upon the other and seemed slippery. “Oh, dear,” I said under my breath, as I turned to leave, “I should have picked up a basket or cart.” The young man heard me and said “Just stay there, I’ll go get you one.” Now the store was packed and people were waiting in line but this young man rushed to the front of the store and came back a few minutes later to hand me a basket to put my things in. Karma? I don’t know.

Sunday dinner was delicious and we shared the desserts so we could taste each one. It was the best Sunday ever. And maybe, just maybe, someone in this city, someone was thinking about their Pumpkin Spiced Latte and thought the same thing.