Often things come into our lives that we weren’t expecting. Perhaps we win a raffle or a lottery, we come into some unexpected money or maybe someone surprises us by treating us to a meal or gifting us in some other way. Every time this happens it can serve as a reminder to give back in someway in gratitude for what you have received.
This week began with a gift and since then it seems like there have been several more of those experiences. Last week, two days before I was leaving for a trip to NYC, a warning light flashed on my dashboard alerting me that my tire pressure was low. I have had that light come on before and it’s turned out to be nothing but I figured I could run it into our local auto shop – conveniently located five minutes from my house – to double-check that this was the case. This time they determined I had a nail in two of my tires. Wonderful. We were leaving for NYC and I had to quickly make an appointment the next morning to have them remedy the situation or I’d likely return from my trip with two flat tires. It was Father’s Day weekend and after the morning appointment the clerk who knows both my husband and me since we both get our cars serviced there, said, “I know it’s not your husband’s car but Happy Father’s Day, this one’s on the house.” I left smiling and thinking I know why I love this place. And it’s not just because of the free service it’s because they always treat us with swift service, a smile and sometimes and unexpected gift.
The next day my daughter, stepfather and I left for our trip to New York City. We were surprised by a very generous relative who treated us to a lavish New York City dinner replete with delicious food and wine, wonderful company with lots of reminiscing and the gift of a very extravagant free meal in the city.
The following day, my daughter and I were in the studio audience of a wonderful new television show on ABC called The Chew. Another relative is the producer and invited us to attend a taping. We were treated like VIP’s as we passed the crowd waiting to get in and were offered the opportunity to sit at the eight person tasting table with the best seats in the house. It was a wonderful experience. During the show we were told that each audience member was going to receive a free blender! As we left the show and each received our certificate for our free blender, I thought what are we going to do with two blenders? I mentioned to my daughter we should give one of them away to someone. That evening at dinner when we met up with some old friends we told them all about our day and how we’d won two blenders and asked if they were in need of one. They both laughed and said that just the day before they had been talking about the fact that they didn’t have a blender. I am sure it’s no surprise that we passed along one of our blenders to our friends. Even my 14-year-old daughter commented that it felt good to give something away especially knowing our friends would benefit from it.
Sharing some of what you receive can be as much fun as receiving something in the first place. If you have any pass it on stories. I’d love to hear them.
1,000 Mitzvahs 