Friday, December 23, 2005

   Phew.
Well, by now I'm feeling LOTS better. So let's hope I'm cured by tomorrow so I can get my work done, right? Just baking desserts tomorrow. Then Saturday to the uncle's house and then sunday is Christmas.

I actually got to chat with Erik online today. He has some yen for me! *squee!* so he's sending it in the mail. and I promised I'd take pics of everythin'. We're supposed to ahve a 50% chance for snow Christmas eve-though a white Christmas is pretty much insured since the snow refuses to melt.

this story is shorter, and since i'm feeling better, there will be pics!

"Chirstmas eve, two years ago. The Wal-Mart in Cleburne, Texas, was jammed, hectic. Dozens of people were waiting in long lines at checkout counters to purchase small appliances, jewelery, toys and clothing that would be next morning treasures under someone's tree.

The woman standing in cashier Jeff Kandt's line seemed to be on the edge of substance, Her clothes were worn; her hands were those of a person who'd worked hard for what she had. She held a single item in her arms as she patiently waited to move to the front of the line. Her son would get the one present he had asked for: a Sony Playstation 2. She had saved all year for this; with tax, the total would be close to $220.

As kandt scanned the game player's bar code into his register, the woman panicked. Where was her money? It wasn't where she remembered putting it earlier that day, Her fear became palpable to customers in line behind her as she started to cry.

Why my line? Kandt thought as he watched the frantic woman search through her clothes. He was going to have to call his manager to void the sale and return the game player to a locked shelf. He'd have to shut down his checkout line and wait for her to come from another part of the crowded store-not something that any store manager or cashier wants on Christmas Eve, not with people waiting and the clock ticking down to closing time. I'm going to be late for Church, Kandt thought.

And then an amazing thing happened. At the back of the line, a man took out his wallet, pulled out $100 and passed ti forward. As the cash moved up the line, a twenty dollar bill was added here, a ten dollar bill there. Someone threw in a bunch of singles dug from the bottom of their jeans pocket.

When the collection finally reached the register, Kandt counted $220.

Strangers had fulfilled a poor woman's Christmas wish to give her son his dream gift. And Jeff Kandt wasn't late for church."

Isn't that soooo nice? I know I'd do that. Helping people like that...it a truely wonderful and rare thing. As I was telling a friend earlier today...the feeling I get from seeing the look on someone's face when I help them...it can't be described with words, and it's something you never forget. Oyasumi.
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"And would you buy her?"

"Can the world buy such a jewel?"

"Yea, and a case to put it in, too!"

-Much Ado About Nothing
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