Stories of Kindness from Around the World

My Mom is visiting from India and I wanted to show her some Christmas shopping spirit! So one of these evenings,  I took her to a nearby store. As we got out from the car, I noticed something blue and plastic and shining in semi-darkness.  A black & white image of a cheerful, middle-aged lady smiled at me. It was a high-end Costco membership card.

I figured she must live pretty close. So when we got home, I picked up the phone book and found the number that matched her name. A friendly male voice answered saying it is indeed his wife's card and she will call me back because she's busy feeding the baby.  I was a little puzzled.

Sure enough, the lady called me in 10 minutes and profusely thanked me for safe-keeping of her card. She lived down the same road, just a couple of blocks away! 

And then came the answer to the puzzle. She was busy feeding a 6 month-old  baby that they have been fostering because the original Mom came briefly out of jail just to deliver the baby. She had lost the Costco card because her hands were full with the little one.

This couple had made a conscious decision to foster newborn babies since not many people wanted them (work, work, work). She talked about the joy of having raised 8 newborn babies, one after the other, all from the County's Foster Home!!  What a great service to get these babies off to a loving start!

We ended up chatting for 30 minutes and I felt like I really connected with this person as a friend and well-wisher. I shared their story with my parents and they were moved too. My Mom even started crying. I wanted to do something for their current baby. I found my favorite toy I had been storing away for our 3 month-old - an adorable, little green elephant that looked at me right in the face.

A few minutes later, a jolly-good older person who looked like Santa Incarnate drove up in a car that told me about their priorities. We chatted some more. He was overjoyed that they could care for this baby for few more months since the Mom was "not ready yet" (which was his loving way of saying she was still doing time)

He tried to prove his wife's identity but I didn't need any of that. I handed him the little gift and the Costco card.  One of these days, we decided to get our babies together and parted with a hug.

For the first time, I felt like I got a real Christmas gift using a Costco card.