Pay It Forward

Around Christmas time in 2007, I pulled up to the drive through window at Starbucks to pay for my tall eggnog latte. The girl at the window leaned out, handed me a card that read, "God Loves You," and told me that the man in the car two ahead of me had already paid for my drink.

I was so taken by his small act of kindness that I looked for a way to do the same. So the next time I went through the Starbucks drive through, I paid for the coffee for the person in line behind me and asked the cashier to wish him a Merry Christmas.

I've since learned that this is called Paying It Forward. The name comes from a movie starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment, and the practice has been popularized by Oprah.

Yesterday I was catching up on my blog reading after returning from my trip to Paris and came across this post by Candy at Rock Candy. I jumped on it quickly and was lucky to be tops on her comment list.

So now it's my turn to Pay It Forward. Just be one of the first three to post a comment on this post, and you'll get a surprise from me. Then it will be your turn. I can't promise that your gift from me is exactly handmade, but I did have a part in creating it. Meanwhile I'm anxiously awaiting to see what I'll get from Candy. I'm sure it will be special.