Letters

To him, his generosity was small, but it made one family's day

11/5/2009 7:30:02 AM

Comments (5)

Our family rarely goes out to dinner (we are very money conscious). However, we decided to enjoy a "family night" at Perkins North in Rochester on Tuesday Oct., 28. We had an enjoyable and relaxing evening with our 5-year-old and 2-year-old sons.

However, the most enjoyable part of the evening came when our waitress informed us that the man sitting across the restaurant had paid our bill.

Completely surprised by this kind man's generosity, I went to his table to thank him. He was very nonchalant about his gesture. He stated that he had a good day and he enjoyed watching our family. What he probably does not realize is that he made our family's day. He gave us a fresh and positive outlook on society. To him, his generosity was small. To us, it was a great thing.

We did not exchange names; however, I hope that he reads this and knows that he did make a difference in one family's night.

Our evening was made complete by his gracious gesture. We will continue his kind gesture and "Pay it Forward."

Mike and Erin Widman

Rochester

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jtej9598
b-town, MN

Posted on 11/5/2009 at 4:09:03 PM

Wow ... after a week of not so great news …this is refreshing to read. I, too hope to pay it forward just because I read this.

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boomer59
Rochester, MN

Posted on 11/6/2009 at 8:37:24 AM

I try to do things like this, too, but one day I paid for the meal of the lady behind me at the McDonald’s drive up window and she got mad and ran to my car and gave me the money! She said she could pay for her own meals! I didn’t care who it was in the car, I thought I was doing soemthing nice, but it sure wasn’t that day!

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sharwils
Elgin, MN

Posted on 11/7/2009 at 1:24:02 PM

A beautiful letter. It’s great there are still nice people around. I want to do this too. Like Oprah’s Random Acts of Kindness.

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2396
Rochester, MN

Posted on 11/10/2009 at 12:11:16 PM

boomer59, I’m sure you felt as though no good deed went unpunished that day! But your heart was in the right place and she was ungracious to you.

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boomer59
Rochester, MN

Posted on 11/10/2009 at 12:26:15 PM

Thanks, 2396. It took me a long time before I did that again! The last time I did was kind of funny - I had inadvertantly pulled out in front of a guy and felt bad and since he pulled in right behind me at another drive up, I paid for his meal. I told the kid at the window to tell him that I felt bad for pulling out in front of him. HE WAS APPRECIATIVE:)Restored my faith again:)

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