Karma. The Good Kind.

The Internet
Karma: (n) The sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in…
Destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.

UrbanDictionary
Karma: The Buddhist belief that whatever you do comes back to you, eg. if you do something good, something good will happen to you, and vice versa.

We all know the saying “Karma’s a bitch“.

Well…not always.
Sometimes she comes in the form of a redheaded mum from the suburbs driving a mini-van.
(Not that said redheaded minivan driving mum from the suburbs is never a b!tch. But whatever…) Carrying on.

Yesterday took I Cuy for a drive down to Main St to drop some books off at the library and to pick up a few things.
I perfectly parallel parked into my spot (thank you, back-up camera). As I shut the ignition off, I felt a jolt push the van forward.
I thought I had done something with the gear shift for a second, but quickly realized that I’d been rear ended. I gathered my purse, the library books and grabbed my phone.
I got out of the van and the young girl (I’d guess early 20’s) got out of her car and immediately started apologizing profusely. Her hands were a bit shaky and she seemed upset. She went straight to my back bumper and saw the (very minimal) damage.

“Oh shit.” She said.
“Did you just say a bad word?!?” Cuyler asked excitedly
“Omigod. I can’t believe I said that. I’m so sorry for that, too. Omigod, Omigod. I’m so bad at parallel parking. I can’t believe I did that.”

I felt sorry for the girl. She didn’t even check her car to see if it was damaged (it wasn’t).  And she’s right – parallel parking IS hard.
FYI – it’s less hard with a back up camera. Thank you, Dodge.
I told her “Relax. It’s fine. Don’t worry about a thing. Please don’t let this ruin your day.”
“Are you serious? Are you sure? Omigod thank you so so much.” She apologized a few more times and thanked me a few more times.
Then we each went about our day. It felt good to show her some kindness. Probably because she was so appreciative.
(I should add that I have an amazing vehicle protection plan that will get that fixed at no cost)

On our way home I went to the Tim’s drive thru. I ordered a small smoothie for Cuyler and a small ice capp for myself.
At the pickup window the young man handed me Cuy’s smoothie and then handed me a medium ice capp. I mentioned that I has just ordered a small and a girl’s voice shouted behind him “I know. I thought I’d give you a medium. Enjoy! Happy Monday!”

I can’t even tell you how that made my day.
Small gestures can really make the biggest differences, can’t they?

Was it karma? I don’t know but it sure felt good to show that young nervous girl on Main St some compassion.
And it sure felt good to have a stranger do something nice for me for no reason.
I will continue to pay it forward and JUST BE NICE to people.