Smiles All Around

I know, two posts in ONE DAY! Yesterday Mike and I were shopping at the new outlet mall in Fairfield, TX. It was fun. Stupid hot. Very humid. But fun. I had shopped for a while with my sister in law, Deb (who is really one of my closest friends) and my great niece (dang I'm old enough to have great nieces!), but they had gone home.

So Mike and I were finishing up and we passed this lady who had two little kids with her. One was in a stroller, looking insanely hot, and the other, who was probably 2 years old, was standing on the edge of a fountain, contemplating jumping in! The mom said, "No, no no. Don't jump in there. Hang on and I'll find you some coins to throw in." At that point she started digging in her purse, not with much luck, looking for some coins.

As we walked by and overheard her conversation, Mike reached into his pocket and pulled out 2 pennies. That's all, just two pennies. He handed them to the mom to give to her son. With the smile that erupted on her face, I thought Mike must have given some grand amount of money. She gushed with thanks. Had her little boy say thanks, and then both of them zealously tossed in the pennies.

There was another little boy standing near the fountain, and Mike handed him a couple of coins as well. He had pretty close to the same reaction. Four small coins. Four GREAT BIG SMILES. The mom and her toddler smiled. The little boy smiled. And Mike smiled.

All that to say, it doesn't really take a lot to bring joy into someone else's life. It just takes paying attention.