Pay It Forward

Last Saturday we drove pass Wal-Mart and hubby pointed at the parking lot and said "those people have been there since Tuesday". I looked over and there were 2 trucks parked and it was a family of 4 with 2 big dogs. I could clearly see that they were "staying" at Wal-Mart parking lot because the trucks were packed with their belongings.

Without sounding too corny, I would like to tell you how much I love my husband and one of the reasons why is that he has a very kind heart. He is a very tough guy and he acts that way too. He swears like a sailor or a trucker(no offence to all the sailors & truckers, he used to be a trucker himself). Sometimes people think he is a hard-ass. But he is a very kind man and he would do anything he could to help other people(his friends or even strangers).

Yesterday he called me at work and said that he just had to stop to find out why those people were "staying or camping out" at Wal-Mart parking lot. He found out that they came from South Carolina. Ray and his sons were offered a job to work with a local custom home builder. So they packed up their belongings and moved from SC to NY to persue this new job. Little did they know that the company went bottoms out recently and the owner is actually facing some criminal charges. So with no jobs and not a lot of money, they were not able to find an apartment to live in(having the 2 big dogs don't really help with apartment searching. I know how hard it is because I have gone through it myself, trying to find a place to live that would allow not one but 2 big dogs). They tried to stay in a local motel that would allow dogs but it's getting expensive staying there daily. So they went to Wal-Mart and asked if they could just kinda camp out there for now.

So hubby called me later yesterday and said that we may not have much but we could offer them a hot meal and maybe a shower and asked if I would be ok with it. Of course I would be ok with it! Other people had helped us out before when we needed it and we should always pay it forward. So he invited them over for dinner and he also offered them a job for now(helping him with his landscaping projects) until they find a full time job. Later yesterday we discussed over dinner and told the family that they are welcome to stay for a little while at our home until they can get back up on their feet. We only have 2 bedrooms but we have a huge yard. So, we asked our neighbors from 2 doors down if we could borrow their pop-up camper and let the boys stay in the camper in our yard and the dogs can stay there too. Our neighbors were very glad to help.

Ray and his family were very grateful and kept thanking us. They kept asking if there is anything they could do for us. We told them to just pay it forward.

I know some poeple will think we are nuts for inviting some strangers to our home. Even Mike's best friend made a comment yesterday to me: "Is he nuts? He doesn't know these people, he could get robbed". Well, if everyone thinks this way then this would be a really terrible world! We already have plenty of problems like school shootings, sexual predetors, killings....someone somewhere has to do something kind to keep the world going. If we got robbed then so be it, at least in our hearts we know we are trying to do a good deed.

So my dear readers, do something nice and kind to someone you know or don't know and ask them to pay it forward.