Reality Check

Francesca and I took a nice long walk yesterday, over four miles actually. I only lost one pound last week so decided I needed to take it up a notch this week. Anyway...

Toward the end of our walk we headed over to Costco to pick up a few things and as I was crossing the street I saw a lady with a stroller and two little ones who looked like she was struggling so I asked her if I could help her, thinking I could maybe hold her stroller or something while she puts it all back together (I know this struggle well.) But it turns out she didn't speak much English and was standing at the corner looking for help with a sign that said "Anything will help. God Bless."

My heart sank. I asked her what she needed. She said she needed money for rent but one thing I have always believed is to not give cash. I am all for giving but you never know why they are in the situation they are in (drugs, alcohol, etc.) and cash can buy any of those things. She didn't look like she had any issues with those substances but you never know. Anyway, I wanted to help the children most importantly so I asked her what I could get her from Costco and she requested diapers. That I could handle and not feel guilty about not giving nor for giving her cash and not knowing exactly what she would do with it.

As I walked away all I could think about was how terrible that would be to be in her situation and how much of a reality check it was for me. Here I am worrying about making less money while on maternity leave and hubby and I trying to figure out if it's possible to survive on one income if we wanted to... and there she is standing on the side of the road, no older than 25, with an infant and a three year old. It broke my heart and really made me realize how lucky we really are. We're not struggling to pay rent or put food on our table, we're struggling with our own selfishness because we want to go out to dinner when we want, go on a weekend getaway, go shopping...

So needless to say I went in and bought her baby diapers. Yeah the diapers were $40 since Costco only has gigantic sized packaging and we don't really have that money to waste but it was far from a waste. A quote I read recently popped into my head when I was looking at the diapers... "No one ever went broke from giving." So I didn't feel bad for spending the money on her and her family.

When I gave her the Costco sized box of size 2 diapers, her face lit up and it made me happy to be able put a smile on her face. The language gap was huge but I could tell that it was something that she needed and it made me happy to help in whatever way I could.  One phrase she knew in English was "God bless you." She continually said it to me and I'm not sure if it was because I gave her the diapers or because I actually came back with the diapers when I told her I'd buy them for her half an hour before.

I felt closer to God in that moment. I was reassured that God will give you what you need and often times it's a message and that message will come to you when you're least expecting it but when you need it most.

Mommy Lesson:
1) Be thankful for what you have and give when you can.

xox

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