Gratitude

I'm home from church today with a sleeping baby who has a fever.  After 2 1/2 years in Primary, it's really nice to be the one to stay home to take care of unwell children, and be able to do so without a half-dozen phone calls to other people explaining why I won't be there and to redistribute responsibilities and assignments.  Instead, I'm home finishing my turkey noodle soup for dinner, making French bread to go along with it, and I'm thinking about making some cookies to take to a family in my ward.  I had the exact recipe in mind, posted by my friends at Our Best Bites.  But there was a lovely service-oriented story that preluded the recipe, and as I read it it reminded me of my own service-received experience from a few weeks ago that I meant to write about, but by a sin of omission (forgetfulness) I did not.  And I'll rectify that now.  So go read Sara's story about her service received at the grocery store, and then read mine.

A few weeks ago I was at Walmart.  I really don't like shopping at Walmart.  By the time I leave the store I feel as if my vital essences have been sucked from my soul.  I can't explain why that is, it just is.  I've started ordering many things online just to avoid making the trip to Walmart.  But for some reason a few weeks ago Walmart was a necessary destination for my family.  I had Isaac, Maren, and Kristen in tow.  We didn't have a full basket because I remember waiting in line at the express check-out.  I was also in a hurry because it was Friday afternoon, I was in Boise and my oldest two children had their music lessons at 3 o'clock in Kuna, and time was short.  The line was long but I gambled it would be a quicker exit than another line.  Both Isaac and Maren were doing potty-dances, but I said they had to wait until we paid for our items, and they both grabbed their crotches and hopped in circles trying to endure the wait.  The next moment an older woman in the check-out lane next to us said I could put my items on the belt before hers, and the customer before her had just finished her purchases.  I hated to cut in line, but she offered and in desperate desires to have not have two wet pairs of undies on the ride home, I accepted.  I thanked her and thanked her, then dashed off to the restrooms as Isaac and Maren danced behind me.  But what happened when we got to the restroom made me clench my teeth--another line.  So we waited patiently for stalls to become available.  Finally, a Walmart employee who was ahead of us in line let both my dancing children go ahead of her.  She said she had nine children (insert jaw drop) so she understood the urgency for children to get to the toilet in a timely manner.  I thanked her again and again as well.  There were two angels in the store that day who took compassion on a mother whose young children had full bladders.  Such simple gestures will always echo loudly in my memory.  And it also reminds me to take opportunities to pass the good-will on.