One man’s voice Thoughts, rants and commentary from a husband, father of five and professional web geek

A true example of charity

Due to extraordinary scheduling issues in our family (immediate and extended) our July birthday party marathon had to be massaged a little into fitting a totally different series of weekends. Given that the Hubers, long time friends of ours, had come back to the area for about a day we managed to wrangle our weekend so that we were able to see them yesterday. That left today to have a birthday party for my daughter Alaynah.

To make sure we had all of the stuff we needed for the party I made a run to Costco this (late) morning to get a a few things (plates, waters, pizzas, etc). Little did I know that Costco would be having a massive sale on Pizzas today which left the better part of the East Bay wanting to head to the Fremont Costco. And buy pizza.

The line was atrocious to say the least. It stretched well beyond the eating area as it began to wind past the tire center. I thought that for sure I would be in line for a half hour. But the party needed food and I had Alaynah and a cake with me so I had to tough it out. And I did.

About 20 minutes into the mess of waiting, getting walked on, pushed, almost spilled on and breathed on heavily by all sorts of freaks and weirdos I would not want ever be in close quarters with, I found out there were two lines for picking up food. One was for pizzas, since that is what all of northern California was there for, and the other was for food that wasn't a whole pizza. When I found this out I thought the right thing to do would be to at least inform those around me that this was the case, so I did.

It ended up being that half the line was not there for a whole pizza. In fact many of them were waiting, grumpily as I was, to get their churros or slices or sodas. And as the lines split rapidly I found myself standing next to a whole new collection of people. One of those people was a young woman that keep peaking over at Alaynah and I was we patiently waited our turn to get our pizzas. She didn't talk to us, but she did show some interest in our interaction. I thought nothing of it as I eventually got our pizzas, loaded them onto our cart and headed for the door.

As we walked out of the Costco however I found myself still next to this young woman and her family. And as we began our right turn toward our parking space the woman looked over at Alaynah and said "I hope you have a great birthday party Alaynah.". You would have thought that time stood still and the heavens opened up for her.

Alaynah beamed with excitement. "How did she know my name? And how did she know it was my birthday party today?" she asked. Apparently all the time we spent in line she had heard Alaynah and I talking about the party. And so she stepped out and wished her a great party. And it made Alaynah's afternoon.

So to that young woman at the Costco this afternoon, thank you. That was a very fine gesture you made. You were a perfect example of what charity is. And you made my daughter's birthday party day a bit brighter as well.