That’s Weird. And Nice.
The school supply aisles at Walmart are teeming this weekend with frazzled parents and kids who seem to be mourning the end of summer. School starts Monday, weeks earlier than previous years, and adjusting to this new schedule appears to be rough on everyone. This afternoon I happened to be in need of some specific school supplies to complete a project I saw on (don’t judge me) TikTok.
As I maneuvered the aisles I kept running into the same father and daughter. She appeared to be a young teenager. I overheard bits of their conversations in the pen section and in the binders and in the notebooks. They were working out which items were necessary for the first day of school and which could wait a bit. I remembered I had a crumpled ball of five- and one-dollar bills in my pocket from the Joan Jett concert last night. Before I even thought it over, I approached them both and babbled “Hi. This is going to sound weird, but my youngest kid graduated in May and I’ve been buying back to school stuff for 24 straight years until this year and I’d really like to give you this to help with some of your school supplies because I have five kids and remember how expensive everything seemed and…” The dad looked at me and answered, “it’s kind of weird…” He was clearly uncomfortable. “I KNOW! Weird, right? And if I’ve made you feel awkward, I understand and apologize, but I wouldn’t have felt good about walking away without offering.” He and his daughter conferred a bit and then turned to me and she said, “This is weird but in a really nice way. Thank you.” So, I handed them twenty crinkled dollars and told this young woman I hoped she had a wonderful school year and I walked away.
I shopped a bit more and checked out. As I was trying to find my car, this dad and daughter were pulling out of the parking lot. The stopped and she rolled down her window and said, “Thanks for weird and nice!” Walmart hadn’t had one item I needed so I sat in my car and checked the Meijer app. They carried the item, so I planned a quick stop there. Randomly, I looked at the rewards section on my app and that was when I began crying and gulping and hiccupping. I had rewards available. Twenty dollars in rewards. The twenty dollars I had just (somewhat awkwardly) given those strangers.
Sometimes the universe nudges you to do something weird and nice. Or unexpected. Or even awkward. But I promise you, sweet pals, that if you listen… such wonderful, brilliant, soul-feeding things will occur. I believe in the revolution of kindness. I believe the universe is cheering us on. I believe in you.
