In my 64 years on this earth, God has blessed me beyond measure. His goodness is very evident. One of my special blessings is my best friend, Donna Cate. She is always there when I need something or someone. I try to do the same for her. We don’t talk every day – we don’t have to. We laugh together and we cry together. One of the sweetest things she has done for me is share her life and family with me including her four amazing grandchildren. I thank God for Donna Cate.

We have a weird tradition twice a year that we both enjoy. She drives me to Corsicana for my bi-yearly pacemaker check. Then we have breakfast or lunch and go grocery shopping. It seems we can find fun in anything we do together.

So, this past Tuesday we headed for Corsicana to get the ol’ pacer checked. It takes all of 5 minutes and we are on our way. We enjoyed our visit at lunch then headed to Aldi to buy a few groceries.

If you have not shopped at Aldi in Corsicana, you are missing out. The staff is very friendly and efficient. Their checkers are fast and get you on your way very quickly. The prices are amazing. I paid $1.49 for a pound of butter, $.89 for a dozen eggs and $1.49 for a gallon of milk. I like their products and their prices.

Aldi is no frills so you have to bring your own bags and sack your own groceries. I like that because I want my groceries sacked a certain way. I laid my bags on the counter like I always do and turned to say something to Donna who was behind me in line paying for her groceries. When I turned back around to sack the things I had purchased I discovered a thief had grabbed my bags and taken off with them.

I was shocked and livid. If I had laid my purse there I would almost have understood someone taking it. But to take reusable grocery bags right under my nose I did not expect. I said something to my friend and the employee checking her out. The young man could have just continued checking her out, but did something I never expected.

“I think I can fix this,” he said as he stood up and quickly ran out of the store. In less than a minute he returned with a big smile on his face and my bags in his hand.

I thanked him for going beyond his job and even complimented him to his manager. It was so refreshing to see someone in this day and time do what he did. Several things have happened in recent weeks that have caused me to doubt and not trust anyone. I have been wondering what our world was coming to.

With one tiny gesture, an unknown person gave me a really good reason to distrust people. In one tiny gesture a young man at the Aldi store in Corsicana restored my faith in humanity. I hope and pray God will reward him for what he did. I don’t know if Aldi employees are allowed to receive gifts, but the next time I head for Corsicana, I plan to stop at Aldi and take a jar of homemade jelly to say thank you to that nice young man. After all, he helped me more than he could possibly understand. The end for now.