This morning Doc went to Starbucks for his coffee. He looked at the parking spaces on his way into the store. Nothing. When he emerged, there was an empty parking spot with some litter - and a dime. He was going for the dime when a car tried to pull in. The driver was hesitant to drive over the litter, so Doc removed the debris while collecting the dime (his reward for being a Good Citizen). The driver rolled down the window to thank Doc and then thanked him again when he got out of his car. Doc merely wanted his dime, but did a good deed in the process.
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This afternoon it was time for our weekly grocery shopping. Doc insisted that we first go to the 99¢ store for any produce which might be cheaper there. No coins there! So we quickly walked next door to the car wash. One penny in a deep crack and one penny up against a concrete pad. (Coins #2&3).
At Trader Joe’s there was a nickel in a closed check out lane, then a penny in the parking lot as we returned to the van. (Coins #4&5).
When we reached the next grocery store, Doc felt ‘nudged’ to walk to the other side of some tall hedges. He found a bright penny, then another penny leaning against the curb. Then he felt ‘nudged’ to look under a napkin and discovered a penny under it!” (Coins #6-8).
Inside the grocery store we didn’t see any coins at first. Then as we checked out there was one penny under the coin return chute, two pennies next to the coin counting machine, and a dime under the photocopier as we were leaving the store. (Coins #9-12).
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We now had the penny, nickel, and dime, but no quarter to “Hit for the Cycle”. I said out loud, “Quarter, quarter, quarter.” “Do you hear me Penny Angels? I have verbalized ‘Quarter’ 25 times, so I expect to find a quarter before we get home.” We pulled into the 7-11 for Doc to get a coffee. I reached under the counter and retrieved the only coin I saw - a penny. (Coin #13). I told Tony, the cashier, that today I wanted a quarter - not just a penny. I walked the rest of the store and found a dime under the Icee beverage station. (Coin #14). When I returned to the cash register, Tony smiled and told me to look under the counter. I looked and saw nothing. Doc looked as well and saw nothing. Tony looked and asked, “Where did it go?” He had tossed a quarter under there! Doc then pulled the rug back and we found the quarter. Does not count. That was sweet, but cheating. I thanked Tony and told him the quarter would be added to the Love Jar.
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We were driving away from the 7-11 when I looked to my side and there was a penny in the handicapped parking spot where we both had looked! (Coin #15)
We were heading home when I said, “Doc - pull into the self-serve car wash here”. As he drove into the area I said, “Penny Angels, I have verbalized ‘quarter’ 25 times and asked for that quarter before we reached home. This is your final opportunity to deliver the quarter today.”
I hopped out and looked in the first car wash bay. It was dry and the drainage channel was fairly clean and visible. I said, “OK Penny Angels, it will make for a great story if you put the quarter in there”. There was a quarter in the drainage channel! (Coin #16). I needed my chopsticks from the van, but Doc had driven to the back of the lot. So I searched all the other bays en route to the van. The other bays all were wet with inches of water and scum in their drainage channels. The first one was the only one where a coin would be visible! Chopsticks retrieval.
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Total: 16 Coins P (11), N (1), D (3), Q (1) = $0.71
Hit for the Cycle
Lesson: Simple Acts of Random Kindness (like picking up litter) can lead to rewards.
Plus, they generate JOY and Smiles!
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