Anne on giving

After my short stint at Salvation Army i ran to my favorite thrift store right down the street. Luckily they were just putting out the winter stuff. We are very hard on clothes out here on the farm so i have to have tons of winter stuff. Tons.

I had twenty bucks in my pocket and was able to get 1 snowsuit three pairs of snowpants 4 dresses some more mittens and 1 doll. It only came to 15 bucks what a steal.

There was a lady in line ahead of me that was wearing scrubs so i could see she must have actually had a "job". She was talking about some baby shower and buying all the little baby clothes and even grabbed herself a cool dress to wear to the shower.

When we got to the counter her bill came to $20.45. She pulled out the twenty and started to look for the .45. "oh shoot I must have taken my change out of my purse, I will have to put something back".
"here's 45 cents dont put anything back, thats silly," I said handing her two quarters.
The lady at the register just looked at me.

"You dont even know me"

"So"

"Why would you give me 45 cents?"

"dont know"

"Well thanks alot i really appreciate it wow!"
she packed her stuff up and walked out with a smile.
The lady at the register says "people never do that you know"
"oh well, i do it all the time what's the big deal?"
"You must have alot of money" she says.
"Oh yeah i have tons of money, for crying out loud i only gave her 45 cents get a grip."
I walked to the car also with a smile on my face. I was told once in order to receive things you have to give things and this has been my motto my whole life. If your hand is open to give then it will be open to receive (I think i learned that from pastor) believe me i sure didnt think of it myself.
when i got home i was just walking in the door and the phone rang, it was my girlfriend who is a nurses aid at the hospital here. "Hey Anne do you need some sneakers size 8?"
"Yes silly you know i always need sneakers"
"OK i will being them over in a bit" hang up. click.
about an hour later she shows up with a garbage bag.
"What in the hell is in that bag" i ask her.
"The sneakers you wanted"

In this garbage bag were 10 pairs of sneakers all practically brand new. size 8. They had cleaned out the lockers at the hospital and collected all the shoes the girls that the nurses had left there over the past year. When people quit many times they just leave their shoes behind. They had a big box of them so she grabbed all the 8's for me.

Pretty good deal for 45 cents, huh?