Friday, December 11, 2020

Karma Needed and Appreciated in 2020

 


To say it's been one hell of a year is clearly an understatement! When I look back over all that I've been through personally and professionally in 2020, I know it is by the Grace of God that I am still able to persevere.  In addition I have watched in horror as people of color have been beaten and murdered at the hands of police and vigilantes like Kyle Rittenhouse.  We continue to fight against social injustice, police brutality, the Covid health disparities and economic hardships ON TOP OF being led---no, I mean  dragged by an illiterate and non-functioning Trump Administration.  

But that's not what this particular post is about. Today I experienced some karma that was so needed and truly appreciated.   Here's what happened:  I went to the post office to purchase some stamps and mail some Christmas cards.  I put the stamps inside the case of my cell phone and then proceeded to go to the beauty supply store.  I made a purchase there and then went to the Dollar Tree to get some more Christmas cards.  While in line I noticed a woman behind me who had a few items so I offered to pay for them.  She said, "Happy Birthday to me!"

"Oh, it's your birthday today?", I said.

"Yes, it is and I was just buying some items to wear."  Now mind you, we're in a dollar store that doesn't sell clothes.  Her items consisted of Christmas tree ornaments, a wreath and some lights I believe. 

"Well, Happy Birthday to you!  My daughter's birthday is next Tuesday."  My husband then chimed in and said his daughter's birthday was today also (which I obviously forgot).

After the clerk rang her items up she continued to thank me and I asked her to just pay it forward when she could.  She said she would.

Now once I got back in the car, I realized I didn't have my stamps and assumed they had fallen out of my phone when I made the purchase. So I asked my husband to go back into the store to see if he could find them.  No such luck.  I then told him we'd have to go back to the post office to get another book of stamps because I really needed them to finish my Christmas card mailings.  (I also knew I was going to spend another $11 because the post office doesn't give refunds on lost postage).

Then I thought, perhaps I should go back to the beauty supply store where I FIRST went after the post office to see if, by chance, someone had found then and turned them in.   When I walked in there was another young lady at the register.  I told her I was looking for the person who waited on me about 15 minutes earlier because I had lost a book of stamps.  And guess what?

The cashier said, "Yes, we found them!" Then she handed them to me.  All I could do was cry, thank her, and think about the KARMA that had come back to me for a small gesture I did for someone else.  I needed that---especially on a day like today when I woke up dealing with some health setbacks.

When I was a child, my parents used to say "What goes around comes around."  KARMA is real.  How you treat others will come back to you---good or bad.

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