A Valentine story........................

As much as it seemed it was just August, here it was February and time to take the wedding rings in for their bi-yearly inspection in order to keep the service plan valid. Dilly stood among the twenty-plus other customers either picking out valentine surprises or waiting to be waited on, contemplating whether or not it would be better to wait for her turn or come back on a week day. Flipping an imaginary coin she opted to wait and pass the time people watching. There were enough of them in the store that at least one of them should be an interesting study

After forever (okay, seven minutes or so, Dilly never has been strong on patience), Dilly made it to the counter to be next in line. The person in front of her was a young man in his early to mid-twenties, with a young child in tow. After the salesperson had wrapped and bagged his purchase he handed her his credit card to pay. For whatever reason, the computer decided that he needed to have fifty dollars down to complete the transaction. Damn computers!

The young man told the salesperson he would be able to give her twenty dollars right then and there, but that stupid computer wanted the full fifty. Never one to let computers get the better of her (piss her off yes, but in the end she always won!) Dilly reached into her wallet and took out thirty of the fifty dollars she had just gotten from cashing in a rebate check. She placed it on the counter in front of the young man saying, "Well, if you've got twenty, I've got thirty, and that ought to satisfy the computer." The young man was so stunned that he was speechless, but the ladies behind the counter stated in near unision, "I have NEVER seen anyone do anything like that before!" Dilly had a fleeting thought about how sad that statement was, but let it pass and told the young man the following story while the salesperson rang up his order:

Once upon a time, there was a young girl celebrating her first Valentine's day as a wife. She had this grand idea of getting matching fleece lined snow boots for her and her husband so they could take winter walks and play in the snow together. The young girl searched for a good deal, and drove to the store to make her purchase. She was so excited about her Valentine surprise as she headed to the counter, and crestfallen when she realized she only had $38.70 of the needed $40.00 to purchase the boots. The kind gentleman behind the counter looked at the girl, smiled, and said, "That's okay! This is close enough." The girl was extremely grateful and vowed to pay the favor forward someday.

As Dilly was finishing up the story (Wiping her eyes and blowing her nose because she still cries when she recalls the kindness of that gentleman) and telling the young man that someday he would be in a position to pass on the gift, tell the story to someone, and add his own to it, the salesperson finished with his paperwork and he and the little girl left the store. After he had gone and the salesperson began to wait on Dilly, she said to her, "That was a really kind thing you did for him. I want you to know that what he was going to put back (he had purchased two things, and thus had the option of picking one and putting one back instead of putting the fifty dollars down) was a ring that said "I love you" on it that he got for the little girl to give to her mommy." As the enormity of that statement washed over her, Dilly knew exactly why she had decided to wait in line instead of coming back. She also knew the thirty dollars had purchased much better memories than any souvenir she might have bought with it on vacation which was what the original plan for the money had been.

Leaving the store to get on with the rest of her day, Dilly was filled with love, joy, and thankfulness for her ability to be able to help out the young man, and excited because her favorite holiday, Valentine's day, was only three days away. Life is indeed good!