40 by 40 -Good Deed 32

I have to think this good deed was meant to be because of several different things. I'm still crying as I write it.

Albuquerque has two Dillards stores. One is a womens store the other is everything else. Today I walked into the mens store with the intention of going into the womens. While walking back to my car, a young girl approached me and said she was cleaning windows for money. I say young, but she was probably in her mid twenties.

As I got in my car I started thinking about what had just happened. She clearly was not homeless as she was clean and well put together, but I realized in that minute that her voice was shaking and she was crying.

I drove over to her and asked what was wrong. In a shaky voice she explained she's on her own and has a six year old son. She said she just got a new job but she doesn't start for a few weeks and that she needed to take her son to the doctor. She said she has insurance but it is a $50 copay.  She explained she was trying to clean windows to earn money to pay his copay while she still had a few hours of daycare left.

Here's the second part of why I think this good deed was meant to be. I very rarely have cash - maybe a dollar or two but nothing really significant. Just a few hours earlier I had loaned a friend my camera for a business event she had to cover and she had paid me $100 in cash. I literally got money for doing nothing.

I reached into my purse and grabbed one of the fifty dollar bills, handed it to her and told her to go home and be with her son. She looked at me and said are you sure and I said yes. She then basically collapsed on the ground in the parking lot crying.

She stood up, collected herself and asked if she could give me a hug, and of course I said yes. By that point I was crying too.

Had I walked in the right store this never would have happened. And if I hadn't loaned my friend my camera I wouldn't have had the cash to make it possible.

There's no doubt in my mind this girl genuinely was just trying to do right by her son. I am so blessed to have a husband that loves me and our girls more than we can possibly imagine, and we have built a beautiful home and life together. I have a two fabulous parents and an amazing support system that if I needed help I have plenty of people to get it from. That money came to me for doing nothing and I feel happier about how I spent it then if I'd taken it into a store to buy something.

I think what I have learned from all of this and all of these good deeds is that life gives us opportunities everyday to make a difference.  We just have to have our eyes open to see them.