Pay it forward

A teaching moment happened today at, of all places, Wal-mart. The girls and I and a friend of theirs, Sala, had gone to the park for a picnic, and had to pick Jason up 1:00 at Wal-Mart. I thought I'd pick up a few things while I was there. I mean, can one actually go to Wal-Mart without emptying one's pockets?

At the point that I was supposed to swipe my debit card, (I was using the self check-out) my debit card was nowhere to be found. I don't carry credit cards as I may be too tempted to use them, and I also rarely carry my checkbook. My debit card is all I need! I searched frantically, but that debit card was just not in my purse. I called the Wal-Mart associate over to cancel the transaction and the lady behind me said "Oh no, you can't go home without your groceries, I'll pay for them." Of course I protested, thanked her profusely for even offering, and told the Wal-Mart associate to go ahead and cancel it.

That lady behind me again said to please let her do it, that she'd been in the same boat before and she simply could not let me go home without my groceries. It amounted to just under $20. She continued to say she'd be happy to pay for them and proceeded to just complete the transaction. I told her that to pay her back, I'd pay it forward.

As the girls and I were walking out, I told them that our assignment is to find a way to pay it forward this week. I'll post at the end of the week with how we were able to do that, and hopefully the girls will get that warm, fuzzy feeling by doing so.