a mighty fine thing to do

The kids and I were stopping by Target yesterday to get a birthday present for a friend and some Huggies (yet somehow that turned into more than a hundred dollars' worth of stuff). We stopped by Quizno's first (my kids loooove that place). We were having fun, picking out chips and deciding between lemonade and gatorade, giggling at Miles making silly faces. I went to pay for our lunch, when the shy young man behind the register held up a twenty dollar bill and said, to my surprise,

"Um, someone has offered to pay for your lunch."

Me: "What? Really? Who?" as I start blushing and peering around the store. (I blush way too easily.) Let's see, two teenage boys (no), lady and her granddaughter already eating (no), frazzled mother of toddler in front of me (no), dentist and his assistant from the office next door (don't think so).

"Well, who is it?" I said, a bit self-conscious.

"Can't say," he replied, smiling, shaking his head and making change.

"Come on, who is it?"

"Sorry, can't tell you."

"Huh. Um, okay. Wow. Well, I guess I won't take the change, then."

I took the kids over to our table thinking, okay, do I look like I'm having a bad day? No, I'm smiling, I'm wearing a cute skirt, don't look poor, I've got make-up on, the kids are behaving . . . I have my wedding ring on my finger, don't think it's a come-on . . . Wait, is Neal here?

I consulted Audrey while the boys chowed down on turkey & swiss on wheat (it's nice sometimes that she's a semi-grown-up). "Well, that was nice!" she said. We were stumped. I did my best to keep my smile on my face while I ate my sandwich, in case the good deed do-er was watching us. I guess I'll never know who did that for me, but it certainly brightened my day. I ought to try it sometime . . .

Lately, I've felt as though I am in a swirl of sorrow and ache for other people. So many friends and acquaintances are struggling so profoundly and I'm having a bit of "good life guilt." My life is not without problems, but they are so small in comparison. Surely all of our hours of struggle will come, I'm certainly not wishing for it, just praying for those in the middle of their hardest times. This bit of good luck in my day further confirmed my belief that people are good, and even though life can be so difficult, there is always light somewhere.

Any bright spots in your day today?