Random Acts of Kindness....The Old Lady and The Flowers

Once upon a time....

An old lady left home for her daily morning walk. She would leave home at the same time each day, she would  enjoy the sunshine, buy her daily bread and then return home. 

Once upon the same time.....there was a young man. He was a business man, he worked in a cut throat industry which revolved around money and people and often greed. Somehow in the midst of all of this he managed to keep his integrity and do the right thing by people. He would run his day the old fashioned way. His clients were to be respected and not taken for granted. He would often take his clients to lunch and buy them gifts, not because he wanted to win them over but because he wanted to see the surprise and joy on their faces. He was a giver and it brought him great pleasure.

The young man had a tough exterior but inside he had a heart of gold. His passion lied within his family unit.  He loved deeply and would fight for the good things in life. He would refuse to take no for an answer and had been very headstrong from a young age.  Great ideas popped into his head and his imagination would run wild with possibilities. It drove his family crazy, but they all knew the capacity to make it in the world for this young man was huge.  His  boundless energy,enthusiasm and committment would see him succeed in his chosen career. But his family would have loved him just as much if he had have shovelled snow for a living.  They loved him so very much.

One fine day the young man drove up the same busy road as he did every single day.  He checked his fuel gage, noticed it was very low and he pulled into a petrol station to fill up his tank. He didn't need to be running out of petrol as he had a very busy day planned at work.

Whilst filling up his petrol tank the young man noticed an old lady. She  was slowly walking along the footpath of the busy road. She turned into the driveway and walked towards the entrance of the shop.

All the time the young man watched her thinking to himself how frail she looked.

The old lady walked to the door where she paused before buckets of fresh flowers that were for sale. She bent over, smelt the pretty flowers and smiled.  Then she turned and walked away, making her way out onto the footpath to continue her walk. 

The young man watched on, he finished filling his car up with petrol and walked into the shop to pay. He made mention to the attendant about the old lady.  "Oh her !, " said the attendant  very disreguardingly. "She vists every day and does the same thing, she smells the flowers and then leaves."

The young man turned to leave , he walked half way across the shop and then stopped. The image of the old lady flashes in his mind. Quickly he turned back to the counter, handed the attendant some money and asked for a bunch of the flowers.

He hopped into his car and drove off in search of the old lady. Surely she couldn't have gotten that far being so frail.   

A little way down the road he saw her. She was still walking her slow walk down the busy road.  He pulled his car over and got out. He approached the lady with the bunch of flowers.   With an alarmed look on her face she stopped., wondering what the young man wanted with her. 

"I couldn't help but notice that you were admiring these flowers back at the petrol station," he said.

Very hesitantly came her reply,"Yes, I love flowers ,"she replied.  She didn't tell him that she could not afford to buy the flowers as she was so poor. It was so tough surviving on her little income.

"These are for you," he said

....and with that he turned and walked away. He needed no thanks from the lady, her face said it all anyway. 

The old lady  bent her old face down to smell the perfume of the pretty flowers. She was enjoying their scent and thrilled at the wonderful gesture from the young man.  Flowers reminded her of her dear late husband who always gave her the gift of flowers. His memory made her smile and it took her back to days of love and enchantment, when her life was full and hopeful and wondrous 

She looked up only to see the car pull away.  Her world had changed in an instant. She wanted to thank the kind stranger who had shown her kindness, but he had left as quickly as he had arrived.  An angel without wings had handed her  pretty flowers, but what he didn't realise was that the act stirred memories of wondereful  times with the love of  her life, her dear husband. 

 She raised her tired old arm as if to wave , even though he  had driven off.    She looked up to the heavens and said a silent thankyou and with that, she turn and continued on her daily walk down the busy road with just a teensy little spring in her step.

Love had been shining down on her that day and she would be eternally grateful.

The end

For a special person who I love so very much.  xo