I was having one of 'those' days. You know...the kind of day where, by no fault of your own, it feels like there must be some malicious force at work that gets it's kicks at causing you grief.
My divorce lawyer had informed me that things we going to take longer, as my ex was not agreeable to my terms, and in fact thinks himself entitled to more money. Sigh! I had gotten my paycheck a few days prior, and it was far less than normal due to the short month of February, meaning I was in for some penny pinching days ahead. My stomach was aching, I was exhausted from working strange hours, and even the weather...nice the day before, now matched my dark and stormy mood.
I had checked my account online as I had deposited via ATM, and was a bit wary of this. I needed to get gas desperately, so I was glad to see everything had gone smoothly with my deposit. I asked for $20 in gas and went inside to pay, picking up a soda for my evening shift. When I went to pay....the teller told me that my bank card was coming up saying there was an issue, and I was to call the bank. This had actually happened twice before (the bank clerk had made a mistake...x2!) so I was totally appalled to be in this situation yet again..not to mention mortified by the humiliation of having this happen to me in front of the now long line of customers.
As I was standing there dealing with this, a lovely lady offered to pay the gas, but I declined her offer, as I was still on hold and was sure they would fix their error promptly. But she smiled at me, paid the man with cash for my gas, and gave me her business card. I thanked her profusely as she left. The banks themselves were closed, so I only reached their after hours person who could do nothing as the account had been held due to an issue with the ATM machine. Whomever had done this had forgotten to remove the hold, and couldn't fix it until the morning
I was now severely late for work, panicking over the new girl being there alone, and totally bewildered by what had just taken place. But mostly I felt overwhelming gratitude for the kindness of a stranger. I was profoundly moved by her gesture of good will! The one small act of sheer thoughtfulness caused me to look at my day differently... The unpleasant event wasn't so bad at all anymore, when it ended with such a wonderful gesture.
The next day, the bank fixed their mistake, apologizing profusely. I sent the money along with a nice thank-you note to Bernice, filled with all my warmest thoughts and gratitude. I hadn't thought a whole lot on the incident since, as life has it's way of bustling you forward at alarming speed sometimes.
Until today
In my mailbox, was an envelope and I recognized Bernice's name on the return address. I was concerned..."Did I not send the proper amount back?" But, when I tore into the envelope I found a beautiful card.
ONE SEED CAN START A GARDEN.
ONE SMILE CAN LIFT A SPIRIT.
ONE CANDLE CAN LIGHT A ROOM.
ONE CONVERSATION CAN START A FRIENDSHIP.
ONE PERSON CAN
MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE-
THAT ONE IS YOU.
That's what the card read. Along with a note in the neatest of handwriting.
It seems silly to send a thank-you for a thank-you but I really felt I wanted to! I wanted you to know you made my day and at the risk of sounding very cliche, restored my faith in people!
It was my pleasure to help out and I would hope someone would do the same for my daughter if she was in your spot. And we've all been in that spot at sometime.
The most amazing thing to me, about this whole episode, is the integrity that you demonstrated. To take the time to write a note and to follow through as you did, really demonstrates your character, and you should be proud!
Bernice
Life doesn't get more much more lovely than that!
xoxo
Sara
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