pay it forward

at the risk of this being a self serving post.. I really wanted to share these pictures but there is a story behind them and why I got them..

Yesterday, as I was coming out of the CVS after getting a script filled, I spotted a check register lying on the ground. You know the kind where you write the check and it makes a carbon copy of it right there in the book? I picked it up, there wasn't really any identifying information on it, no name, no address, no phone, no bank name.. nuthin.. but it was meticulously kept. Checks had been written to doctor's offices, birthday gifts, the IRS for 2007, and a number of checks written to a local church.
I thought for half a second about just taking it into the CVS and leaving it there in case the person came back looking for it. But then I figured they would probably just toss it in the trash. So, I took it home. As I was looking at it, I realized that the part of the check where you sign your name was partially blacked out, but if I looked at it in a certai light, I could partially make out the last name.
So, when I got home, I called the church bookkeeping office and explained that I thought that the person who lost the checkbook was a parishioner. The woman at the church recognized the name and within 10 minutes the owner of the book called me.
She was so ecstatic that someone had found it and kept thanking over and over.
Now, I don't know about you, but personally I feel like if the same thing happened to me, I would want someone to return my property. And that's pretty much how I go through life.. the golden rule..
We made arrangements for her to come by my office to pick up her register, though I offered to bring it to her.
fast forward to this morning..she called me early to tell me that it was going to be a little later than she had planned when she was going to be able to come by.. no problem I told her, I would be there till late. She again thanked me over and over and I just responded, "thank my mama ma'am, my mama raised me right" and she responded
she surely did.. thank you again so very much"
I got to work and am immediately grabbed by a co-worker telling me "you have beautiful flowers in the lobby"!
In my head I'm wondering why butter would send me flowers.. not my birthday, not an anniversary.. just a wednesday..



As you can see, the flowers are absolutely beautiful. Gerber daisies, roses, waxflower and hydrangea.. stunning. I open the card and realize that they aren't from butter at all.. but from the woman whose register I found.
the card read
"Thank you ever so much you are a very special person"
I got a little teary. I didn't pick up the register for a reward, or for anything really other than to do the right thing.
It was a very sweet thing for this elderly lady to do, and started my day on such an uplifting bright spot.
What a really nice way to start a day....
hope yours starts just a nicely tomorrow!!!