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Random Mommy Kindness

Most days I’m pretty ok with the
fact that my girls love their routine and love having the same food
every single day. But sometimes, I think I’d rather take
Maddie’s travel Spork and scrape all my taste buds off my
tongue one at a time than have to eat another $#@# sandwich for
lunch.


Yesterday was such a day.


So as we headed home from a play date with friends (yes, in the
car, but they live five miles away so it doesn’t count!) I
heard Chick-Fil-A’s siren song pulling me off the road, and
since unlike Odysseus I had no one to tie me up and keep me safe, I
turned the car towards the cow with the sign that says “Eat
More Chikin”.



Yes, it’s no big deal to go out to
eat, I know most people would say. But we’re very conscious
of how we spend our money, and we had perfectly good food in the
refrigerator at home. And yes, I heart Chik-Fil-A in a big way,
since my girls love their grilled chicken sandwich and their fruit
cups so I know they’re eating healthy, but the point is that
it was an unnecessary expense.


Yet I went.


To keep costs down I ordered the bare minimum – no extra
drinks or fries or anything- and quickly moved ahead in the
drive-through line. And as we sat in line I studied the car in
front of us, passing the time as I sometimes do by trying to
“figure out” the car in front of me. The car itself was
one of those huge Suburbans, and I could see a woman in the
driver’s seat as well as several occupied car seats in both
rows of seats behind her, so I went out on a limb and decided she
was a mom. I pictured her coming back from Vacation Bible School,
perhaps, or a soccer camp, pulling off the road to pick up lunch on
the go as her large brood headed off to their next activity. Then
she finished her transaction, and it was my turn at the window.


“Here’s your lunch, ma’am, and your meal has
already been paid for, so have a nice day!”


Um, what?


The drive-through clerk grinned. “The car in front of you
paid for your meal already.”


“But, um, I don’t know the car in front of me!” I
said, a bit stupidly.


“She knew that,” the poor clerk said patiently.
“She told me she just wanted to pay for the food in the car
behind her, just to be nice.”


I was absolutely stunned, and failed to keep the grin from
spreading across my face. I felt myself blushing, as if I were the
shy seventh grader at the middle school dance who had suddenly been
told by a freshman that I’m cool. Someone who doesn’t
even know me likes me, and did something kind for me!


I drove off, searching for that Suburban, but of course she’d
already left. If it’d been me doing the buying (and I have to
admit it’s never even occurred to me to do something so
generous) I’d have been tempted to lurk around and see the
response, but this mom drove off, already on to her next good deed.


I’ve no idea why she did this, of course, and my rosy-colored
guesses may be way off base. Maybe she was the nanny, driving a car
full of screaming brats back to her boss’s house, and
spending a bit more of her employer’s money on my food was
her passive-aggressive way of sticking it to them. Maybe she
thought I was another car in her car pool and she was supposed to
buy the lunch for them, and now her friend two cars back got
screwed.


Or maybe she just looked in the rear-view mirror, saw a fellow mom
looking harried and distanced, and wanted to do a nice thing. Yeah,
I’m going to stick with that one.


So I got my break from those stupid ham and cheeses, and
didn’t spend any money after all. I got a little Valentine
today from God, a small “Hey, you’re great and worth
this little treat.” And now that I know how good it feels,
you can bet I’ll be passing it on, looking for another mom
who looks as if she could use a pick-me-up.

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