Pay It Forward

So, the topic of this post happened a while back but I have still been wanting to write about it.  Here goes.

Remember last week, before Thanksgiving, when Amy and I took Stella and headed for the conference in Austin?  i thought you did.  Well, after dropping the dogs and the boys off at their sitters we drove to Starbucks for a little treat to kick start our mini road trip.  Now, you know I love me some coffee, and I love me some Starbucks.  Plus, it's the holiday season which means all of their wonderful holiday flavors are finally available (pumpkin spice latte anyone?)!  For my birthday a few weeks ago I got some gift cards.  I loaded them all onto my main card and have been using Passbook on my iPhone to pay.  Side note - love this!  No more carrying cards around and it's simple!  Awesome.  Back to the post.  So we order our drinks, a salted caramel mocha for Amy and the aforementioned pumpkin spice latte for me.  We also threw in a few edible treats because why not?  We get to the window and I'm all psyched up to show Amy how to use Passbook and finally redeem my free birthday drink.  The barista tells us that the car in front of us had already paid for our order, we were the 8th car in a pay it forward line!  What up!

Now, I have always wanted to do that but have never done so.  Why?  Well, I'm not sure.  I could say I've never had the funds to just blindly pay for something but I'm sure I have.  I could say that I've forgotten, and I'm sure that's true too.  It's probably a combination of the two really.  Anywho.  Amy and I were pleasantly surprised and immediately told him to pay for the order of the person next in line.  I was stoked to keep the chain going and it was fun!

Now, I will admit that Amy and I felt slightly guilty because our order was about 3 times the cost of the one behind us.  What if they only had the money for their order and not a larger order?  Well, I guess they could just always accept the free drink and call it a blessing.  But it did make me wonder how long the chain went on.  Just the car behind us?  A few more?  It's totally not about the amount you didn't have to pay or the amount you ended up paying.  The fact of the matter is that you are in some way part of a larger, positive action.  Something to show that people still do care and show love to strangers for just no reason other than, as we've been told in church and Sunday School, because we love because He first loved us.

So, since that day I've vowed to start my own chain the next time I visit Starbucks.  I haven't been yet but I really do want to do it.  Even if that person accepts it without passing it on, maybe they needed a free coffee.  Maybe they will pass that blessing along to someone else throughout their day in a non-caffeinated way.

So, I just thought I'd share that fun little story with you dear readers.  Maybe it'll make you smile.  Make you think about something nice someone did for you.  Maybe inspire you to do something nice for someone else.  Who knows.  Regardless, I think it was a good story!

All is well, paying it forward, in Drosche Land.