I usually strive to do “good deeds” whenever I can. Or maybe it just falls under the category of doing something nice for someone you don’t know. It might be something a small as letting a car out ahead of me into traffic, or letting someone with only a few items go in front of me in the checkout line at the grocery when I have a cart full.

Last week, just before Thanksgiving, I was at the grocery store. An elderly woman was checking out in front of me and they had to call for an extra cart for her to get all her bags in. I’m not sure how she got it all into one cart to begin with! When I got outside she was standing just outside the exit looking a little lost. I offered to help her to her car with her extra cart. “Oh, my,” she said, smiling at me, “my son is coming for me in a few minutes, but thank you so much for the offer!” One good deed not completed.

My next stop was the Dollar Store to pick up some cheap bows for the Christmas wreaths I planned to hang outside (see my last post for photo). I was third in line when a man came to the counter with an aluminum roasting pan in his hand. He told the girl checking us out that he was sick and needed to get out of the store—fast. He pulled out a dollar bill, threw it on the counter and asked how much tax there was. She told him and he just turned around and left the store without putting down any additional money. The girl was very upset with him and talked about the situation with the woman in front of me. When it was my turn I took out 7 cents and laid it on the counter. I told her I was paying for his tax. She looked at me incredulously and said “Are you with him? Do you know him?” I replied no, that I just wanted to make sure she didn’t come up short at the end of the day and it was nothing for me to pay her 7 cents to make up for what he didn’t pay. She would not take it! She said her father owned the store and it wouldn’t matter. Hmm. Okay, second good deed foiled.

The last good deed has a happy ending, or it will tonight. We have a gorgeous, expensive, 10-foot prelit Christmas tree that we bought in Colorado when we had really tall ceilings. I think we paid around $700 for this thing and we didn’t want to just leave it behind when we moved, knowing full well that it would not fit in our house here since we only have normal ceilings. We tried several times to give it away to a local church or charity but no one wanted it. Last week Rick decided to put an ad on Craigslist to try once again. We specified that it was free only to a charity or non-profit organization. One person said they ran a care center and would love to have it. When we told them they would need to provide us with a letter for tax purposes, we didn’t hear from them again. Probably NOT who they said they were I’m thinking. Then there was this:

Hi,
I am not from a non profit origination but, I am a single mom of a 6 year old.  I am a productive, working person but we do not have a Christmas tree.  If this is sufficient for you please, get back to me.
Thank You

Uhm. No. What would she do with a 10 foot tree anyway? Plus, when Rick listed the tree he had it down as being 18 feet tall! (He realized his mistake after going down into the basement to check the box.) This thing weighs a ton since all the branches are metal and fold up umbrella style into three separate pieces. We can barely get it together ourselves!

I am glad to announce that we found a proper place for our tree. Father Mike from St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey is the lucky recipient of our lovely tree and is coming to pick it up tonight.

Finally, a good deed has been accomplished!

The tree in our old house.

Addendum: When Rick just now went to remove the ad from the list he found it had already been “removed by the community” for reasons such as “you can’t say who free stuff goes to” and “just take it to Goodwill”. Geez. This was the first time we’ve ever used this list and it just might be the last! How ridiculous it that? At least Father Mike saw it before they removed it. Must have been divine intervention!