A Disastrous Night Takes a Heartwarming Spin

I was just about to leave work the other night, running around, wrapping thing up, and left my phone in the studio.  In the short time I had 4-5 missed calls from my wife, most of which meant voicemails.  But it all started with 1 text, "We have a 911." Normally, I walk around with my phone.  So be it Murphy's Law, the time I leave it is when I need it most.  Go figure.  The voicemails each had my daughter frantically screaming in the background "I don't want to die" and "I'm too young to die."  So I called up my wife to learn the problem had been resolved, but dinner was ruined, as we had an oven fire.  Well, we had an oven "spark" problem.  The oven is electric, and older, and somehow, I'm guessing the heating core at the bottom cracked possibly?  I'm really not sure. (The repair guy said he's never seen anything like this.)

All I know is my wife told me that dinner had been cooking about 30 minutes, when she noticed something strange happening in the oven, and started seeing huge yellow sparks.  She had no clue what to do.  It didn't stop after shutting off the power.  Since I wasn't answering, she grabbed the fire extinguisher.  Eventually she got a hold of her Dad who walked her through shutting off the circuit breaker.  Unfortunately now, pretty much everything in the kitchen, and the entire first floor, was covered in extinguisher dust, which is NOT fun. This included dinner which she had been working on for a while.

Long story short, just before 9p, on a school night no less, we head out to dinner.  Although we didn't want to keep the kids out too late, they just needed to get out of the house for a while, so we opted for sit-down vs. fast food.   Here's where the story takes a spin.  As we sit there talking about how much worse it could have been, and how we may have to alter plans, an older couple starts striking up a conversation with us.  It's all small talk really as we wait for our food.  I believe they were regulars, and this was what they did; mingle with random strangers over dinner and coffee.  I like it.  They eventually finished and left.  We wrapped up dinner, the check came, and I finished my coffee, dreading the long night ahead.  I think we all dragged a bit, dreading the return to the chaos.  The waitress came back to collect the bill, and as I reached for my wallet, she said "No worries, it's on the house."  I was speechless.

A summer ago, we spent weeks going around town paying for people's things encouraging them to pay it forward, but never had that happened to me.  The feeling is overwhelming, especially when you're in a difficult place, overwhelmed by stress and other life situations.  I've had the chance to see how it affects people, and the positive impact it makes, and now it's come back around. Again, speechless.

As we left, the couple was still sitting out front. I asked if it was him, and he played that he had no clue what I was talking about, but there was a smirk.  I did say thank you, but regret I didn't shake his hand.  I was just kind of in shock.  That little act meant so much to help take our mind off things.  And while I don't know for sure if it was the couple or not, I am extremely grateful.  There is something to say for never dwelling on the negative, and for always looking up.