Paying it forward!

I went snowboarding on Friday with Brian and his good friend Chris. We had a good time. I was starting to get the hang of it again, and the boys were pretty good teachers. Then one of my worst nightmares happened. Brian lost our camera!! Not only does this suck because it is a decent camera with a 4 GB sd card, but I had many pictures and vidoes on there that I had not yet transferred to the computer. I was soooo upset. Brian said he lost it during a fall. We looked everywhere and nothing.
Brian said if someone found it they would definitely just keep it for themselves because it was a nice camera. I literally felt sick. I had a headache, and I was just then tired of snowboarding. I'd already been at it for a couple of hours. So I took off all my gear, and went inside for some hot chocolate and lunch. First I stopped by the front desk to see if someone by chance may have turned it in.
To my surprise and huge relief someone DID find it and turn it in!! And it still was in perfect condition. I told the lady that worked at the desk that I wished I could thank the person who turned it in, but there was no way. She didn't know who did.
So, I decided I needed to go do something nice for a stranger. I went to get my lunch, and stood in line with my tray waiting. I then turned to the lady behind me and asked if I could buy her lunch. She looked at me like I was nuts, and told me "no". I explained what had just happened to me, and how I wanted to "pay it forward". I then just asked that in return she does something nice for someone else soon. She said she definitely would, and let me buy her lunch.
It made me feel so good to give back, even if it wasn't to the person who helped me.
I've done that kind of thing before, but it's been awhile. I think I want to try to do that type of thing more often and teach my kids to do that. It sure did feel good even though it was such a small thing. I want my kids to learn that type of gift that they can give themselves by helping to spread happiness!

I also believe when you give...you get back....here's 2 stories of a situation when I just gave a little and got a lot in return. Years ago I was a big sister in the big brothers/big sisters program. I took my little sister to a movie one day. The lady at the concession stand gave me a dollar too much back in change. I corrected her and gave her the dollar back. My little sister laughed at me and told me that no one does that. Later that night after I dropped off my little sister when I got home I found a $20 bill in the parking lot in front of my apartment. Thanks Karma!

Another time, I was with a friend and we did some charity walk (I think the Komen walk), and afterwards we got a free bagged meal. My friend had like an oatmeal cookie in hers, and I had a chocolate chip in mine. My friend told me she was jealous and wished she had the chocolate chip. I like cc better than oatmeal too, but it wasn't a big deal so I traded her. 2 days later another friend of mine who didn't know that happened for no reason at all baked me a dozen chocolate chip cookies. LOL! Crazy but true!

So anyway, those have all been lessons learned for me. And I am so anxious for my kids to get old enough to teach them THAT kind of stuff!! :)

So while I am in some ways sad how time flies, I really am eager for all the things that are coming around the corner!!