The "Good People Really Do Exist" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Gas tank full and car packed, ready to head to Urbana, Maryland to visit our daughter Brynn, son-in-law Dave and granddaughters Courtney and Camille.  Our mission was a weekend visit to catch up on the lives of everyone south of the border and to take in one of Camille's basketball games.  She is in her final year of Middle School and will enter High School next year.  Her basketball team is undefeated and we wanted to see one of her final league games before the playoffs start.  Her game was scheduled for 5:30 pm so we decided to leave Lancaster, PA about 11:00 am for the two hour trip to Urbana, a small bedroom town near Frederick, MD.  There are a variety of routes we can take, but we enjoy traveling historic Route 30W for about an hour and then pick up Route 15S for the remainder of our trip.  Just before we end our Route 30 leg of the trip, there is a McDonald's restaurant where we enjoy stopping for a snack or an inexpensive meal.  Today was one of those meal days so I pulled into the Drive-thru lane and waited in place.  Naturally, the noon-time line is always longer, so we had a rather lengthy wait.  Finally the car in front us pulled to the order station and placed an order.  About a minute or so later the car pulled forward and we pulled to the speaker.  "Fish sandwich, cheeseburger, small fries and a vanilla milk shake," I called into the speaker.  Some static and then, "The milkshake machine isn't working today.  You want something else to drink?"  I replied, "Just a small coke."  By now the car in front of us was paying for their meal and preparing to pull to the service window.  I too pulled to the window and lowered the window to pay.  The young girl opened the window and said, " The woman in the car in front of you paid for your meal!"  I was dumbfounded!  "What?" I asked the clerk?"  She said, "The lady said today was 'Do a good deed day' and she wanted to treat the older couple in the car behind her to lunch."  Wow!! We pulled up behind her when she was getting her order and tooted the horn and waved to her.  She waved back and pulled forward and stopped.  After we got our meal we pulled next to her and realized she was about the same age as our daughter.  We thanked her for such a nice treat and told her her act of kindness had made our day something special.  With a big smile on her face she said we were welcome and glad she could treat us.  It truly did make our day, and perhaps her day also.  We often read in our local newspaper comments from those who have had a meal paid for them at a restaurant and often think we should do the same for a stranger.  Never thought someone would do that for us.  Once again, even thought the chances are extremely slim that the beautiful young woman may be reading this blog...thank you one more time for your wonderful gift you gave to us on February 17th.  It was most certainly appreciated and something we will never forget!  You truly were our hero for the day.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.