When You're Not Looking For It, There It Is

You never know where you’re going to find the special moments in life. Four years ago I had the opportunity to go to a Sox game at US Cellular Field to watch them play the Red Sox. Being a devout Cubs fan I was convinced that even though I wore my Red Sox hat, I was going to have a lousy time watching the White Sox at the Cell. As it turns out, it was a great night. Oh sure, the White Sox won so the evening wasn’t perfect, but the stadium was more appealing than I imagined.

Sitting there watching a live Major League baseball game for the first time in over ten years turned out to be one of the most enjoyable evenings. Despite not cheering for the White Sox I was able to see firsthand why there were so successful that year. In the sixth inning Scott Podsednik reached base. He promptly stole second, was moved over to third on a ground out to second and then scored on a sacrifice fly. Get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em in. Bobby Jenks came in for the ninth and nailed down the save. During one at bat he started out with a 95 mph fastball for a strike, followed it with a 99 mph fastball strike and then finished the batter off with an 83 mph changeup. Good stuff.

More recently the Lady Rebel and I took our kids to Florida this summer and stumbled across some life experiences. Mine took place at Sea World. While Kim and the girls were waiting in line to go on a roller coaster, I was chasing Cooper around a kids play area. At one point he was pushing his stroller and came close to knocking into the ankle of a bare-chested guy wearing a Tampa Bay Ray hat standing near a brick sitting wall. I told Cooper to watch out to which the guy replied “He’s all right.” From there we kind of small talked about Cooper and this guy’s kids that were running around. While we were talking I noticed a rather large bump on his left upper chest. I assumed it was a cyst or something. He said “I just got hit with this [pointing to his chest]. I have stage 4 cancer and the doctor says I have 13 months to live.” Turns out the lump on his chest wasn’t a cyst, it was a port for the chemo IV that he was receiving.

The amazing thing about this guy (sadly our conversation never got to the point of exchanging names) was how calm and upbeat he was. “No reason to get upset or complain, man. Doesn’t do any good. Now it’s all about them,” he said pointing to his kids. “This is going to be a year of fun for them. Anything they want to do, we’re going to do it.”

You can’t walk away from a conversation like that, as brief as it was, without feeling like your life has changed in some way. It certainly put some things in perspective.

Kim had her moment at the Magic Kingdom. To fully appreciate the experience, you would have to be familiar with my Owner Profile, more on that later. I had accidentally knocked my daughter’s, Ally, drink on the ground spilling it everywhere. Kim took her to a stand to get a replacement.

While she was waiting in line, the young girl in front of Kim realized she was short of money to pay for her drink. She turned to her mom who was standing off to the side and said “Mom, I’m short! Do you have any change?” Her mom was holding a bunch of bags and was trying to dig through her purse, so Kim handed the girl the amount she was short. The girl must have thanked Kim about ten times which is cool enough, but that’s not where the story ends. Kim then placed her order and chatted with the guy serving the drinks. When he handed her the lemonade, Kim gave him the money. He handed the money back and said “Thanks for paying it forward.”

On my Owner Profile, I have listed “Paying it Forward” as one of my favorite all-time movies. Every time it’s on and I’m watching it, Kim will say “Oh god, you’re watching it again?”

Kim said when the guy said “Thanks for paying it forward” it gave her chills. I’m sure because of the movie tie-in but also because of the kindness that we don’t often see.

Here’s one more spin on the experience. Kim wasn’t aware of it, but the day before we went to the Magic Kingdom I was flipping through the stations on the TV in our room and came across – you guessed it – Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey in “Paying it Forward”.

Sometimes the universe works in pretty cool ways if you take the chance to watch what’s around you.