I Need A Miracle
PAY IT FORWARD
I was frantically driving around doing my last-minute Christmas Eve prep: picking up dessert, dropping off a gift to a neighbor, getting wine, flowers, you know, all the essentials.
Suddenly I get an urgent call from my husband, "Roman needs cough medicine ASAP and maybe a decongestant." We'd brushed off his sniffles the night before, hoping they were just that.
The last thing I wanted to be doing is wondering if we were going to be spending the next day opening presents or going to urgent care. Feeling crummy on the night before the most anticipated morning of the year certainly puts a damper on the holiday spirit. And boy, did my spirit feel dampened. No one wants their child to miss Christmas!
So here I was at dusk dashing to my corner pharmacy, reading labels and looking for clean and effective meds. It's pretty incredible that CVS now stocks homeopathic cold medicine, but I also grabbed the other pharm-y stuff to cover all my bases.
The line at the register was daunting - who were all these people buying Mentos and beer? Last minute stocking-stuffer shopper plus meet-the-parents vibes were all around me. I mistook the dude with the mints and the chick with the booze as a couple. They were standing too close at the checkout while I was back in the clearly marked line for shoppers to wait.
So when the goth chick on register 2 mumbled "Next," I marched over with my arsenal of spendy remedies; I was in both a daze and a hurry. "Hey! I was next!” the long-haired man scowled. I went into full apology mode, backed off and stammered a faint “happy holidays” as I forgot to breathe.
It was my turn soon enough, and I fumbled for a coupon in the long familiar paper trail of a receipt that most people discard, but I was sure I had crumpled one up into my bag yesterday.
Before I could finish telling my cashier to chill for a sec, the surly hipster guy was waving his credit card over my card reader machine and saying, "Hey, I'm sorry I was rude. I've got this."
I was like, "What, you weren't rude! It's fine, I was the one who jumped the line!"
He insists, "I was, I had a bite in my voice, and I'm sorry; that wasn't cool. I'm paying for your stuff." And as I shook my head he said, “Too late, It's done,” already finishing the transaction. Shocked, I'm suddenly teary-eyed for real.
"You have a burden on you,” he continued; I agreed, sobbing, "My son is sick!" This hipster skater Venice dude, out of the blue, offers a prayer, gives me a genuine hug, and says, "I love you."
Can you believe it? A strange stranger morphed into some White Jesus reviving my faith in Christmas miracles.
He sparked a glimmer of hope that, despite it all, the Christmas spirit endures. Roman was a trooper through Christmas Eve and Day, but wouldn't you know it, we ended up at urgent care on the 26th. Thankfully, just the old-fashioned flu.
“So shines a good deed in a weary world.”