As I rushed into Market Basket to pick up a few things for the week, I immediately paced to the deli counter because the line is always long.  Although it does allow time for a hellos to my fellow deli shoppers, double checking my shopping list, and scrolling Instagram, the wait can be long and this day I just wanted to get in and out.

I don’t know if I looked cordial or not as I went to pull out a number from the ticket dispenser to see what my lucky number was.  I couldn’t believe my eyes as I compared the number I pulled to the number that was being served.  Do you want to know the good news or the bad news first?  The good news is that I would have plenty of time for chatting and all of those others things I tend to do while I wait, and the bad news….well, I pulled number 48 and the current number being served was 22!  Talk about letting the wind out of my sail.

Before I could turn around to sadly walk to my cart, a tall bearded gentlemen approached me and explained that his son had pulled too many tickets and he had an extra one that he thought I might like to have.  Remember my number was 48, but the number that he was kind enough to give to me was number 25!!!

I don’t know how many times I said thank you.

What a small act of kindness I thought to myself. And it stayed with me for the rest of the week.

Not only was he kind to me, but as I tuned into his conversation with his son, I heard a voice of compassion, patience, love, care, and thoughtfulness.  His son was not older than six, and he was enjoying his time with his dad as he, the son, requested various samplings of deli meats for his school lunches for the upcoming week.  Prosciutto, salami, and turkey all come to mind as I type.

The last thing that I noticed was how this gentlemen treated the lady at the counter who was helping him.  He ordered one item after the other, and although there was a long line that day, with each order that she took from him she did it with a smile and almost seemed to anticipate with excitement what was next.  Why was she smiling, why was she happy to unwrap, cut, put away, and pull out yet another order to prepare. Why?  I think it is because he said her name every single time. He said it with a smile and thank you.  Every. Single. Time.

This was kindness in action, and definitely impacted my week.  I’m thankful to have pulled number 48.

Be the change you want to see.