Angels at Wal-Mart

My little girl starts preschool next week. I can't believe it! We just celebrated her 3rd birthday and she has been in heaven with all the presents, parties, cakes, and friends. Sending her off to school, even just for 6 hours a week, is hard for my mama bear heart!

Part of starting preschool means school shopping. But what do preschoolers even need you might ask? Well, a backpack that can fit a full sized piece of paper. But full sized backpacks are kind of big for 3 year olds though right! Regardless, we are good sports and decided to follow the directions.

So on Saturday Arwen and I decided to go school shopping. We chose some cute power light, princess pink tennis shoes that she loves. And then onto the backpack section.

She loved all of the choices, but settled on a sparkly unicorn design that came with a little lunch box and headphones. She tried it on and it was of course bigger than she was. Yet she loved it. It made her so proud to wear. She felt so important learning how to use the zippers and imagining all the little things she could put inside.

We then proceeded to the check out stands, and in typical Wal-Mart fashion—self-checkout. Arwen sat in the cart, clinging to her backpack. She could barely release it when I asked to run it through the scanner.

I was soon ready to pay. Now I usually never carry my wallet to shop because EVERYWHERE I ever go always accepts ApplePay and I just use my watch. But in typical Wal-Mart fashion—they don't accept any form of payment other than swiping your card. No tap with a watch or phone. It's the most annoying thing ever and one of the reasons I don't often go to Wal-Mart. I'm petty I know.

So I started digging in my purse and couldn't find my wallet. I only brought my purse in the first place because it supposedly had my wallet with my credit card. I began to freak out for just a moment until I realized I left it in Arwen's swimming bag. I had forgotten to put it back in my purse before leaving the house. And then I found myself standing there, with no means to pay whatsoever.

I waited for a worker to walk by and I asked her if there was anything she could do. In typical Wal-Mart fashion, she said “We only accept credit cards” and then walked away, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open.

Then another worker came by and said the same thing. I looked at my daughter, clinging to her backpack, and had to tell her how sorry I was that we couldn't buy it and that we would have to come back. The worker then canceled my order.

Arwen started crying of course and begged for her backpack. I kept telling her we would have to come back.

Unbeknownst to me, there were 3 people watching us the whole time. A middle aged couple with younger gentleman. The woman then spoke up and said “Honey, this has happened to us all. It's really dumb how Wal-Mart doesn't get with the times.”

I chuckled at her comment and agreed with her. We chatted a little bit about how my girl was about to start preschool and we were school shopping together for the first time. After a couple of minutes, the man asks “Do you have Venmo? I can just pay for this if you want to Venmo me.”

The gratitude on my face must have been apparent and he said “We're in no hurry to get out of here. Let's scan it again and you just Venmo me.” I smiled as big as a Cheshire cat and hurriedly ran everything through again. I scanned his Venmo QR code, sent him the exact amount, and he swiped is card.

And Arwen had her backpack.

I expressed my profoundest gratitude for the generous and self-less act of service they performed for me in that moment and how I would remember it forever. They made it possible for me to be super mom and deliver on my promise of getting my girl her backpack.

The younger gentleman then spoke up for the first time and said “I like your shirt.” I knew then that there were additional forces at work here, making it possible for us all to go through the self-checkout line at the same time. Not only were this man's parents so giving and thoughtful, he recognized my shirt!

For those of who you are wondering, it is from the best movie of all time— The Lord of the Rings. IYKYK

I was relieved that I didn't have to trudge home to find my wallet and return back to the store at 8pm with my daughter. And it was all possible because Sarah and Dan saw a mom in need and decided to reach out and offer assistance.

I truly believe that God puts people in our lives and in our paths. Whether they are there for us or we are there for them. I love the quote by Camilla Kimball that says “Never suppress a generous thought.”

I was blessed with earthly angels this day. And in my Venmo payment to Dan I even wrote “You're my angels” in the description. I got to see the joy on my daughter's face as she proudly sported her new backpack and beamed at me that she got to pick it out herself.

There were so many things about this experience that are priceless and forever etched in my memory.

Moral of the story: Be someone's angel. If you ever feel inspired to chat with someone, write a card, hand someone some cash, give a compliment, or even just smile and high five a person as they walk by, follow that instinct!

If we truly want to be the kind of person that makes a difference in this world, it starts at the individual level. We can absolutely change the trajectory of another person's life if we have the intention to be their angel.

My mom is a great example of this. She is very proactive about being an angel. When she makes homemade bread for example, she often makes a double recipe. The extra loaves are packaged up nicely and then she keeps them in her car and asks God, her higher power, who needs a loaf of bread. Then throughout the day, she always finds people to give them away to.

There are many ways to be an angel for another person. We can do the proactive approach, or we can just be wiling and open to any opportunity that might come our way.

I hope that I can be more like my Wal-Mart angels and pay it forward.

Thanks for reading. This was a long one 🙂 

To changing the world,

Erica ❤️🌺