I am Appreciated!

Yesterday I messed up. I ran some errands on my lunch break and they took much longer than I anticipated. Burgerville was very busy, so I had to wait quite awhile to get my fundraiser paperwork taken care of. Then I was off to the post office for the bulk mail ordeal to get our school newsletters out. The bulk mail lady is a lot of fun, but she is always changing the rules about how the paperwork is done. I had four letters that had non-973 zip codes, and I kept them carefully separate. Another postal helper was hanging around back there pretending to be helpful, leaning on the scales and making her wonder why the weight kept changing, etc. By the time we finally got done with the paperwork, we noticed the four separate newsletters were gone. So was the "helper". So we had to look through all 655 newsletters to find the odd ones that he had helpfully stuck in the middle!

So I didn't get back to the office until about 10 minutes after school let out. I sat down at my desk and surveyed the chaos. To my dismay, a note I had written to a 6th grade girl still sat there. "Ride bus to Boys and Girls Club." This could be a problem. I called the mother, reaching her on the third number I called, and confessed my error with deepest apologies. The mother said she had been called to work, and the child would have ridden the bus home where she would be able to get inside. Mom was very nice, but she really didn't want the kid home alone all evening.

This mother has been in several times so we're acquainted. I offered to get the child and drive her to the club if she was comfortable with it. I was a little surprised when she took me up on the offer, but I felt like it was the least I could do since I didn't send the note out.

The child is a sweetheart and we had a nice drive together. I pulled one of my usual tricks, so engrossed in our chat that I turned off too early, so we took some back streets to the Club. She said she had no idea you could get there that way! I told her I wanted to show her the beautiful dogwood trees blooming along that route!

When I got back from lunch today, I was handed a card that a parent had dropped off for me. How unexpected. I opened it and read a very nice appreciative note from yesterday's mom, thanking me for going beyond her expectations. She enclosed a Dutch Brothers card with all 10 stamps, telling me to have a coffee on her and her daughter.

Knowing this is a single mother struggling financially, I was so touched, feeling like I had just received the widow's mite. Every time I looked at the card as it sat on my desk this afternoon, it made me teary eyed.

One appreciative parent and child make it worthwhile to put up with all the difficult ones!