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Post by chronic on Jun 14, 2008 14:05:26 GMT -5
This is related to my squalor so I hope it's okay to post in the general area. I was going through a box of Christmas stuff and found my son's "star". Here's the story behind the star (and a sad note.. the rest of the box was so bug-infested that most of it had to be tossed but I saved the sentimental stuff)... Anyway, here's the story of the star: When my youngest son was about 2.5 or 3, and the oldest was around 8, I was living in a house owned by my then-in-laws. My husband at the time (my youngest's father) had severe depression, alcoholism, and other problems and hadn't worked in a year. My part time job at my son's school paid very very little. Basically his parents let us live there rent-free but we were on my own over and above that and it was a very tough time. I didn't have any kind of public assistance and it was about a week before Christmas and I was in the grocery store with both kids, going through the basket, trying to decide what to put back because I knew I didn't have enough for what was in my cart. What was in the cart were the basics... cereal, eggs, milk, peanut butter, bread, etc. I was trying to figure out if I should put back eggs or peanut butter. Heck of a choice! I had a pencil and paper and I was doing the math based on what I knew was in my checking account. Meanwhile, my youngest had found a light up Christmas star tree-topper and was asking for it. He kept saying how pretty it was and how he wanted to put it on our tree. I think it was $6, way out of budget so I had to tell him no, and he was sad, kept saying "I want the TAR mama!" Anyway, I went to the nearby register... and instead of the main checkout I went to the checkout in the camera/film section since there was nobody there in line and I only had a few things. When I pulled my cart up to the register, the woman behind the register told me that "Someone" had pre-paid my grocery bill! She wouldn't say who.... just that it was "taken care of". Someone had seen me struggling to work it out and had offered to pay for the food in my cart. I was so overwhelmed and cried on the spot. I then went back and got my son's "Tar" and every year he is the one to put it on top of the tree. He's 10 now.  So I salvaged his star from the squalor the other day and he was ecstatic.... I'll never forget how someone's anonymous generosity changed so much for us that year, and really renewed my faith in people. I suspect it was the cashier but I'll never know.  |
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Post by messysue on Jun 14, 2008 16:36:54 GMT -5
A beautiful story!!
As a little kid of 6 - 9 years old I weekly went to the grocery store with my step-father. I got 10 cents a trip, enough for either a comic book or a ride on the electric pony. On the weeks I choose the comic book I'd get on the pony & pretend to ride it. One day a oldish man put a dime in & I got BOTH the pony ride & a comic!!
Advance forward 50 years.
I was in the concession line at the $1 movies. Three young ladies of about 10 or 11 years old were ahead of me. One of them was a dollar short for a popcorn. She tried to talk one of the other girls in to going in on a bag with her but they were interested in other products. The girl was so disappointed. I tapped her on the shoulder & gave her a dollar so she could buy her popcorn.
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Post by messymimi on Jun 14, 2008 19:05:43 GMT -5
Thank you, chronic, for the reminder that little things can mean a lot. This can be true both for small acts of kindness that help someone in need, and for us getting through our stuff, as each piece gone helps...
messymimi
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Post by crazycatlady on Jun 15, 2008 21:50:02 GMT -5
That was beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing. I'm very glad you were able to save that star!
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