Submitted by Sharee G. (Denver, CO)
A young woman alone in a restaurant on her birthday gets an unexpected gift.
My husband and I were having dinner one night in a local restaurant. We were enjoying ourselves as usual when we noticed a young woman sitting alone at a nearby table. We didn’t think much of it at first; people eat alone all the time. Sometime during the course of our meal, the waiter mentioned the young woman and told us that it was her birthday. When I heard that, my heart sank. I couldn’t even imagine spending my birthday alone. I told my husband, “This just isn’t right, she shouldn’t be alone on her birthday!” He agreed and we thought to ourselves for a minute.
We talked about joining her so she wouldn’t be alone, but then thought that might be uncomfortable for her since she didn’t know us and didn’t want to overstep our bounds. Then my husband said, “We obviously can’t do anything about her being alone so why don’t we pay for her meal?” I agreed and when our waiter returned we told him that we’d like to add her bill to ours. He acknowledged our request and returned shortly with the total. We paid the bill and then finished our meal.
We were just getting ready to leave when the waiter explained to the woman that her meal was taken care of. She looked pretty surprised and then the waiter pointed over towards us. We got up to exit the restaurant and she called us over. She was very grateful and thanked us for our generosity. We told her that we wanted to brighten her day a little since she had to spend it alone. She thanked us again and we continued our way to our car. I felt so exhilarated. It wasn’t much to us, but to her it brought a little joy into her day. It felt so good to bless another person, not to get anything in return, but to bring a smile to their face.
