A Good Day

I go through periods of time when I post on Facebook once or twice a day, then go days with nothing 'Facebook worthy' to write about (whatever that means). I often find that I want to share things that are just too long for a status update, so I am attempting to blog more and just link to FB. That leads me to how my day started out. . .

Chris left for work really early this morning, and when I got up, I realized that we had nothing for breakfast. Like, nada. Well to be completely honest, we did have two bananas and a little milk, but I did not think that would fly as 'breakfast'. So I decided to be the 'cool, spontaneous' mom and take the girls out somewhere before dropping Marley off at school. It went something like this -  "Hey girls!! We are going to a restaurant for breakfast!" Lots of squealing and jumping up and down ensued, followed by me shouting, "We have ten minutes to get our teeth brushed, our clothes on and Marley's lunch packed, or we will be late for school!" Twelve minutes and about seventeen requests for Chandler to put her shoes on later, we were in the car on the way to the nearest breakfast joint - Ihop.  As we were walking in, I noticed that I had left my phone at home - no big deal, right? Well not exactly.

We ordered our food, colored on the menus for about 30 seconds, played one and a half games of Tic-Tac-toe (turns out, it is a rule that the kid goes first or the game is void), and bam - the food arrived. Our waiter, Raymond, was very attentive and brought the check shortly after we started eating.  That is when I realized that my phone was attached to my wallet. And. I. Had. No. Money.

Ok, I did not panic. Yet. Our bill was about $21, and I discovered that I was carrying exactly $13 in cash but only had my Macy's card in my purse since my credit card, debit card and drivers license were all in my phone-trapper-keeper-thingy that always seemed really slick until right about then. I said (out loud), "Uh oh, I left my money with my phone." Which completely freaked out Marley. At about that time, Raymond came by to offer me more coffee and Marley blurted out, "My mommy doesn't have any money!!" Nice. I politely explained my situation and swore that I would come back in twenty minutes and pay the remaining 8 dollars and some change. Raymond was very nice - said he understood and had been there before, but went to check with his manager. While he was gone, the lady sitting behind me said, "Excuse me, honey, I don't mean to be all up in your business, but I guess I am cause I heard you don't have enough money and I am happy to pay the difference for you." It was an interesting feeling that her kind offer gave me. I was very grateful and thanked her profusely, but promised that I would come back with the money.

Raymond returned a few minutes later and told me he chose not to speak to the manager, that he trusted me and would be there until one o'clock. I promised him again that I would be back in about 20 minutes, thanked the lady beside me again, grabbed the girls and bolted for the door - I did consider leaving the kids there as collateral, but thought better of it (just kidding!).

When I came back, Raymond thanked me several times, shared a story about his mom and a failed trip to Taco Bell, offered me another cup of coffee and then asked if he could ask me for a favor. He explained that the waitstaff are penalized if they cannot get customers to complete at least 5 surveys a week and asked if I would complete one for him. Of course!! I also tipped him ten dollars and gave thanks to God that today I was put into a situation that allowed me to witness compassion and grace. It also afforded me an opportunity to talk with the girls about the importance of helping one another when we are in need. It was a good day.