For Jake’s birthday, we ordered a paddle board from REI and we couldn’t wait to pick it up and take it to the beach! The first time we went to the gulf coast, we saw a guy out in the ocean on his stand up paddle board. Jake was smitten. He kept talking about how cool it would be to have a paddle board, and he just seemed so excited about it. Well, the price tag proved this item elusive for a while. It’s been over two years, and I figured it was a good time to look into getting ourselves a stand up paddle board. And we did!!

We picked it up yesterday morning, strapped it to the top of our explorer, and headed out for the beach! We had SUCH a good time.  The weather was a perfect 78 degrees, with a slight breeze and plenty of sunshine. And, the beach was empty! Other than a few people walking by or in their beach houses, we had the beach to ourselves. Jake wasted no time getting that board into the water, and ended up taking it out a number of times while we were there. The waves were pretty choppy, but he kept his balance pretty well.  He even rode a few waves in. Ava and I also took a ride sitting down on it while Jake pushed us around.  Ava was a little uneasy at first, and didn’t even want to go out on it, but she still laughed and seemed to have a good time on it.  She also loved running up and down the beach, chasing the birds and the waves.  She ended up falling asleep, wrapped in a towel on my lap as the sun set. I loved it. It was a perfect day relaxing and playing together.  We were all so happy.

When we got home around 8:30, the neighborhood kids were jumping in a bounce house in the Hanson’s yard across the street.  Ava had a blast playing with them (as always) and ate lots of Halloween candy. Did I mention it was Halloween? I wouldn’t have spent the day any other way.

One more thing. Before heading out to the beach, we stopped at an nice Indian buffet to get some lunch. The food was great, although Ava didn’t seem to want to try much (which is typical.)  The waiters were so kind and even brought out ice cream for her. We sat nearby a nice middle aged man, and Jake engaged in some conversation with him throughout our meal. He left before we were done.  While we were finishing up our rice pudding, one of the waiters came over to us, thanked us for coming, and with a smile said, “You don’t need to worry about paying, your meal has been covered. That man already paid for you.”

I was so touched. Maybe it’s my pregnancy emotions, but I just wanted to cry; I was so grateful and so touched by his kindness. Most of all, I was impressed by the feeling it left me with–it made me want to do likewise.  To pay it forward. I thought about how powerful little acts of kindness like that can be, especially if it inspires others to continue to pay it forward with other acts of kindness.

Overall, it just left me with such a great feeling, and I don’t doubt that the giver felt similarly. We would all do better with more kindness like that.