Some People's Kids

So it's been a crazy week. We've been scrambling to run a bajillion samples at BYU, I've worked at Viking three nights this week, I made an apron for some friends, was on the committee in charge of the stake quilting project that happened on Saturday afternoon, had the normal Saturday-morning band practice, and even watched this week's episode of LOST with some friends. I somehow found moments to sleep and eat in there somewhere. I even managed to bathe several times as well (lucky for those who had to be around me...) I feel like I was sprinting all week long. I've been pretty tired, but since I'm filling my time with things that I love, I've been in pretty good spirits.

Today I managed to make it to SLC a little before I needed to be at Viking, so I popped into Trolley Square to buy some fancy chocolates for Valentines day. I had seen said chocolates at the Utah Chocolate Expo, and was really impressed by how pretty they were. There was one girl working at the Chocolot booth, and she was out giving people samples of Valrohna chocolate. I stood by the booth, looking at the pretty chocolate for a few moments. A lady who looked to be in her 60's came up and looked with me. She and her husband were all prettied up and probably on their Valentine's date. She pointed out the sample lady to me, and I said that I was fine waiting for the girl to get done giving samples to some other people and would wait for her to get back to the booth. I started to tell her a little about Ruth Kendrick (the maker of the aforementioned pretty chocolate) and how she won so many of the categories in the hand-molded chocolate competition at last year's expo. She nodded and smiled, like people do when listening to people rave about something. The sample girl came back and the lady asked her some prices of things on the table. She bought two bars of Valrohna chocolate, one Guanaja (dark) and one Tanariva (milk). Actually, she told the lady what she wanted, and she got her husband to quit looking bored/distracted long enough to pull out his wallet and pay. It was kind of cute.

She then turned to me, handed me the chocolate she (her husband) had just purchased and wished me a happy Valentine's day. I took the chocolate and thanked her profusely, totally taken by surprise at this random generosity. I had never seen this lady in my life, and I had just walked in Trolley Square only a few moments before. I had pretty much walked in the doors and straight to the booth. She couldn't have been watching me, so she must have just made a quick decision to do something nice for me. She just smiled, and she and her husband turned and went on their way. The sample girl asked me if I knew them, and when I explained that they were complete strangers, we decided that they were some of the coolest people ever. Whoever raised this lady did it right. Her mom would be proud. I wish I would have had the presence of mind to ask her name.

We hear so much about the negative these days, and I sometimes forget that there are so many amazing, selfless people out there. A few dollars worth of chocolate isn't going to change anyone's life, but it sure made my week. I shared the chocolate the lady gave me with Bryan, Trish, and Will after we got done cleaning up after the Valentine's class at Viking. It was amazing. This whole experience and how randomly special it made me feel helps me realize that I need to look outside myself a little more and make more of an effort to make someone else's life a little brighter.

Happy Valentine's Day Everybody! I love you all!!