Kindness matters

Yesterday I spent the day at the ballpark with my family.  My boys were dying for some ice cream. What kid doesn’t want hotdogs and cotton candy and nachos and everything else the ballpark has to offer.

I walked up to the counter and asked for two scoops of ice cream in a bowl with chocolate sauce on top.  The woman behind the counter looked at me and turned to her manager and repeated my order. Her manager quickly said, “We can’t do that?” I thought, “Do what, serve ice cream?”  Curious, I asked, “Why not?” She replied, “Well it will be $4.00 extra for chocolate sauce.”  “Oh”, I said. “That’s not a problem.”

She looked at me and then proceeded to come over to tell me how most customers get mad at her for saying it costs more money. She then expressed her nervousness around stating the prices especially since management had just raised them.  She felt so thankful that I didn’t make a big deal of it.

Then she told the woman scooping the ice cream to give us three scoops instead of two and not to charge us for the chocolate sauce. AND she opened up a fresh new batch of ice cream for us.

Wow I thought. I felt so much more abundant by simply being kind and not making a big deal about $4.00.  

And then something even better happened. I went to grab a cup of tea and she said, “That will be $6.50.”  I proceeded to give her the money and she said, “Actually it will be free for you.”

I was so incredibly grateful.

The thing is I wasn’t expecting to get anything for free. I am at the ballpark creating memories with my children and in my opinion there is no reason to feel upset about $4.

It isn’t typical for me to get upset about money because I always know that I have a choice. I can either purchase the ice cream with chocolate sauce or not. That is the choice.  No reason to get upset about it.

It is important to let go of your expectations of what things should be like and enjoy yourself. If you are going to the ballpark, go to the ballpark and BE KIND.

Don’t worry about what things will cost or who is sitting behind you, or what is happening on social media. Relax, be with your kids and ENJOY YOURSELF.

Make it easy on yourself. Life is difficult enough.

Take a moment and share with us a recent moment of kindness.  Whether it was you or something else showing kindness we would love to hear about it.

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Acceptance is necessary