My friend Jess, who recently moved to Michigan, shared a video with me. The video is the story of Jayden Lamb, a little boy from northeast Michigan.
This past weekend we celebrated my almost 8 year old with a little party. There were a few hitches and things didn’t go quite as planned. I was frustrated and annoyed and quite honestly, had trouble letting it go.
Then I watched this video again and felt foolish. Jayden’s dad can’t celebrate his son’s birthday with him and I’m complaining because a few kids were difficult at my son’s party.
Take a minute and watch.
Now just be thankful.
And when you have a moment, Pay It Forward – Jayden Style!
Wow, do NOT watch that at work – get out the kleenex. Thanks so much for sharing…..really makes you think “don’t sweat the small stuff”.
I *finally* did pay it forward last week, though I’m not sure I did Jayden justice. It was the day after the Boston bombing and the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, and I was in the Starbucks drive through. When I paid I noticed there was a car behind me ordering (yes!) and so I asked if I could pay for their order, too. The cashier said sure, then asked “Do you want me to tell them anything?” Kind of hinting at Paying it Froward Jayden Style, I suspect, as they’ve seen a lot of that around here. But honestly I was just wanting to spread some general kindness as it seemed like so many gloomy things had just happened. So I’m totally over analyzing the situation, thinking I should just say “Tell them to have a nice day” or something like that, but at the last second I kind of say in a half-whisper/questioning tone, “Jayden???” and she says “Okay!” and closes the window and off I drive. So it was a bit anticlimactic, but hopefully done in the spirit of Jayden, and hopefully made the person’s morning behind me. I am 39 years old now! At what age will I learn to +speak with conviction, for Pete’s sake??!!
Whoa! This puts everything in perspective, doesn’t it? Thanks so much for sharing this. I’m sorry that your son’s party didn’t go off as well as you hoped…that’s one of the reasons I enjoy blogging and scrapbooking. I can make everything sound wonderful and not mention the out-of-control kid, birthday tantrum, or breakdown I had in the middle.