If you are an avid shopper at Kohl’s you know that coupons are a big deal. First of all, they are always sending them in the mail. 15% off. 20% off. When you peel the brown sticker to reveal a 30% off coupon, it doesn’t even matter if you need anything, off to Kohl’s you go simply because you know those added discounts add up on the already reduced prices!
Yes, I do love a good Kohl’s shopping spree. In fact, it’s always my “first stop shop” for Black Friday deals the day after Thanksgiving. Best. Deals. Ever! So you can imagine how excited I was to receive the yearly “Happy Birthday to YOU!” coupon in the mail for a free $10 gift! Yay!
Of course, this year is different. I am celebrating a milestone – the big “4-0”. So when I received my birthday coupon, I knew just what to do… drive straight to Kohl’s and bless someone with kindness!
As I entered the store, I wondered to myself, “Who should I bless? There are so many people shopping here right now!” I looked around but no one had a blinking, neon sign over their head shouting, “PICK ME! PICK ME!” so I simply started walking around the store and figured I would know who to bless when the moment was right.
I rounded the corner of the ladies department and headed towards the maternity section. I immediately thought of my friend, Michele, who had just given birth to her fifth (yes fifth!) child the day before. That’s who would get my blessing! Someone with a small child! No sooner had the thought crossed my mind, I saw her. Young. Pretty. Stroller. She was the one!
As I approached the young mother, the items she had been collecting on top and around her stroller started to tumble to the ground. Picking up a bag of socks, I said, “Here you go… ” then launched into my explanation of who I was, what I was doing, and how I wanted to bless her. I explained that normally I would go shopping for my birthday, but I thought she might want to use my gift to buy something for herself, or her child… and if nothing less, just be blessed with a discount on the items she had already planned to purchase. She looked at me and said, “You’re going to make me cry!” (Which, of course, almost made ME cry!) and I simply handed her my coupons, gave her a hug, and walked out the store.
Today, September 30, 2012, is the official start to my 40th year. Please join me in my adventures and celebrate kindness in your own world by blessing someone else. If you know me on Facebook, I would love for you to post what you did in celebration of my 40th birthday. If you have a wordpress blog, please leave a comment to this post. You can email me, too, at celebratekindness@gmail.com. Come and join in on the fun! If we all do just one act of kindness today, oh what a party that could be! 🙂
