I was in the drive thru line at McDonald’s with my fourteen year old son riding in the front seat beside me and my daughter in the backseat.  The line was backed up and we were contemplating bailing out.  Then I started eyeing up the woman behind me wondering what she was planning to order, and considering if I should pay for her meal or if it would be too expensive.  I had someone pay for my meal last year at Christmas and I know it’s one of those popular “random acts of kindness” that people do.

Eventually it was our turn and we placed our order.  Again, we were waiting to move forward and out of the blue my son piped up with, “We should pay for the person behind us.”  Well that sealed it.  It was strange that I hadn’t said anything out loud about considering paying for the order behind us and here he was with the same idea. Not wanting to squash his feelings of goodwill for another I paid her bill along with ours.

For less than $10 I was able to confirm my son’s feelings of generosity and maybe put a smile on someone’s face. I don’t know how she felt about the little gift of having her meal paid for. Hopefully it made her happy.  I know both of my kids were tickled to look back and see her face when she was told her meal was already paid for.