I shared a story this morning with a close family friend that he encouraged me to blog about. And it is about how sometimes, you have to listen to the voice in your head.
This past Saturday night, my wife, the boys and I walked into Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. And as we did, we passed a table with a couple that was having dinner before their prom. They were happy and smiling and laughing. And it was just contagious the way that they were enjoying their dinner and life in general. And as I walked by, this little voice in my head said, “buy their dinner”. No, I’m not crazy and I’m not trying to start a religious conversation, but I do think that God can give us nudges sometimes.
Our waiter leads us to the back of the restaurant, but I can still clearly see the kids laughing and smiling. And the entire time, I keep hearing in my head, “buy their dinner” and I tried to shake it but the more I dismissed the idea, the more I had this tugging that I needed to do this. So, I get up, grab my waiter and tell him that I want to buy the kids dinner and asked if he could get their waiter over so I could get their bill. The waiter just looked at me and smiled and said that it was really cool of me to want do that and to let him see what he could do. It was at this point, that my wife smiled and looked at me and then realized that I had done. A few minutes, their waiter goes to their table and tells them that someone wanted to buy their dinner, but wouldn’t tell them who, as I asked that we remain anonymous.
After our food was brought to our table, I looked up and saw the cute couple walking to another table to visit some of their friends and what I later found out was also family. The high school boy kept adjusting his tie and his tux, making sure that it was perfect. But the smile that he had on his face was just awesome and one that I’ll never forget. You see, the young couple both had Down’s Syndrome. And the waiter that was taking care of the couple, told me that this was their first prom and in fact, it was their first date ever.
I did not buy their dinner because they had Down’s Syndrome. I bought their dinner, because sometimes in life, we get these little nudges through the voice in our heads and I think that if we act on that voice, that something big could happen. And it did. I saw how happy they were. I saw how much they were enjoying the moment of life. And as we left the restaurant, we walked past the couple and their families and one of the mom’s told a friend that someone in the restaurant paid for the kids to have dinner and how neat that it was. And my wife and I just smiled as we got in and watched them getting ready to head to their prom, because for a few moments in life, a small gesture on our part, gave us a lifetime of memories.
It is the small things in life that matter the most. And if you get the chance, do something nice and out of the ordinary for someone else, but do it in a way that no one else knows that you did it.
Listen to that little voice in your head, that nudge that tells you to do something, because I would hate for you to miss out on a life changing moment.
