My Happy Place. . .

Yes, it's true: Starbuck's makes me happy. 

Prior to August, making a quick stop at Starbuck's made me happy. Some days it felt almost necessary. We have coffee in our home (Starbuck's beans, nonetheless), but a nice Tall Americano just really hits the spot for me. I've gone through several periods of fasting from coffee and yes, I feel amazingly great when I abstain from it, but right now I'm enjoying my dark friend without guilt:)

A friend of mine posted an article with a comment under it, saying, "What if we all did this today?" I don't remember the details of the article, but it was about someone buying coffee for the car behind them in the drive-thru line. We had planned to be out that day, so I made a mental note to remember to pay for the car behind me. We ran our errands and then pulled into the line. I told Emma what we were going to do and she began to get excited. We knew we wouldn't see the reaction on the other person's face, but we were happy just imagining it. It was actually pretty exciting. I'm not sure if I had ever done that before. I paid the $2.30 for my Americano and then politely asked if I could pay for the car behind me. "Sure!" he said, "That'll be $11.89." I almost choked! I quickly recovered and handed the man the money. Suddenly my heart wasn't so generous. I mean, really? Almost twelve dollars at a coffee shop??? I glanced behind me through the rear view mirror, just to verify there was only one person in the car. Yep. I took my change and drove away, feeling like the question in my head was almost audible, "How willing were you to bless the person behind you?" I kind of laughed, thinking to myself, "Well, I wasn't twelve dollars willing, but it sure felt good!" From the back seat, I heard Emma say, "Mom, that was so fun! I wonder what that person thought when they realized they didn't have to pay for their coffee?" I smiled, grateful for her.

About a week later, we were out driving when Emma said, "Mom, we should go to Starbuck's again and pay for the person behind us!" It didn't take long for her to convince me. It happened to be a Friday and I remembered we had been there the previous Friday. As I sat in the line, waiting for my turn to pay, I decided that we'd go to Starbuck's every Friday, making it a treat for us as well as the car behind us. Emma dubbed it Fun Friday!

The best part of paying for the person behind us were the conversations I got to have with Emma Jae. We talked about what it means to be generous and how we can bless others, even people we don't know. We talked about giving money, time, love, and food to those who need it. There's a man named Ralph who sits by the highway in his wheelchair, begging for food or money. We made Manna Bags (Ziplock bags filled with food, water and notes) to give to the homeless and Ralph has received a few of ours. After several weeks of giving food to the homeless and buying coffee for strangers behind us at Starbuck's, Emma said to me, "Mom, when I grow up I want to work at a homeless shelter so I can take care of homeless people and make sure they have food and warmth." I just stopped the car and turned around and smiled at her and told her how happy that made my heart. Sure, I was selfishly getting a nice jolt of caffeine when we went to Starbuck's, but we were getting so much more than just a good cup of coffee! I don't think I realized something so small would make such a great impact! By 18 months, Adri could say, "Stahbutts!" and Emma was begging to go, even though I never bought her anything there.

In our minds, Kevin and I thought that was a pretty cool story. I had planned to write about it and never got around to it (until today). Well, imagine my surprise, when I opened my email on my birthday and received a Starbuck's gift card from my friend Mollie in Germany!!! She knows I like coffee, but she didn't know I had been spending extra on others! I thought it was a little sign from God to continue blessing others and I was grateful to Mollie for her gift!! I was even more shocked when I opened another Starbuck's gift card from my friend Cindy several days after my birthday!! The total of the cards was more than I had spent on others over the previous three months!! I just sat down and smiled and almost cried. It's such a little bit of good that we've chosen to do and yet it's something. Recently I found this quote by Desmond Tutu that has given me great encouragement on my journey, "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

And that, my friends, is why Starbuck's really makes me happy!!