After I finished my last post, I thought that in case some of you enjoy ice cream, too, and didn’t know about the Ben and Jerry’s special, I could pass some helpful info on.
On Weds., April 30 – that’s later today (I’m posting after midnight so to me it still feels like Tuesday :)), Baskin Robbins will have scoops of ice cream for 31 cents each. Not quite as good as free, but still lots of fun!
We did this last year, and the kids enjoyed it. A big part of why they can enjoy something like this so much is because we only do it once a year – otherwise, on the rare occasions I buy it, it’s from the supermarket in the gallon containers. I’ve found that when something is a new or unusual experience, the kids get a lot more enjoyment out of it than they would if it were a regular occurence.
Back to last year. Because it was so cheap, I told the kids they could each get two scoops (being the big spender that I am :)). As we were halfway through the line, a woman approached me and told me she wanted to pay for the ice cream for our family and asked how many scoops we wanted to get. The store was packed and I don’t know what made her choose us out of the crowd (maybe because we were a noticeably large family?), but though I felt uncomfortable to have someone pay for us, she insisted. She told me to tell the cashier when we got to the front that it was paid for. Which it was. Wasn’t that sweet?
It reminds me of something a friend told me today – she was driving on a highway and the person ahead of her paid her toll, so when she got there, she was told it was taken care of. It wasn’t the monetary value of it as much as the thought that someone cared enough to do it which made the difference.
It gives me a pause when I think how little both of those opportunities cost and how much good feeling they spread. How much does it take for you to put a smile on someone’s face? Could you buy an extra scoop when you go out and share it with someone who isn’t expecting it?
Random acts of kindness can light up someone’s day!
Avivah
