Live & Learn -- Maybe the world's not such a bad place after all

I was in kind of a dark place a while back when I made the announcement that Chivalry is Officially Dead. And since then I've definitely done my fair share of complaining about how pregnant women are treated.

But just last weekend I realized... Maybe the world's not such a bad place after all.

 

Last Sunday while Stew was on shift I decided I would use the alone time to run about eleventy billion errands. Unfortunately, this took place during an inconvenient torrential downpour, and I prepared myself for an absolutely miserable day of horrible traffic, jam packed parking lots, and rude sales people (I had several returns to do, which never thrills anyone on commission). Five hours and nine stops later, I dragged far too many shopping bags into the house and collapsed onto the couch in shock.

 

It had actually been a great day!

 

I drove easily and quickly to each of my destinations. All of my returns were greeted with smiles and no problems (even the one where I lost the receipt). I found front row parking spaces at almost every single store. People held doors open for me and offered to help me out to my car. A saleswoman at Macy's gave me a 15% discount on shoes that were already on sale (she was probably taking pity on my poor, swollen feet). Trader Joe's was miraculously not crowded for a Sunday, and I zipped through the line. At Home Goods, I found an absolutely perfect laundry basket for Baby Boy's room, after searching for weeks online.

But the best thing happened in Target.

 

While browsing in the shoe section (seriously, none of my shoes fit my fat feet right now!) I heard a woman gasp loudly from nearby. I looked up to find her staring right at me! Sighing and wondering if I had once again tucked my top into my tights or something, I looked down and began patting my clothes frantically, searching for dropped items or toilet paper stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Instead, the woman exclaimed: "You look so beautiful!"

 

Are you freaking kidding me?! A stranger in a store had randomly taken it upon herself to give me a compliment. My eyes literally welled up with tears. I had just seen some depressingly chubby-looking photos of myself at my baby shower the day before, and frankly I was feeling pretty down about my appearance. So to have this perfect stranger give me such an unsolicited compliment was honestly one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. And this coming from the girl who thinks that there is never, ever a valid reason to speak to a stranger.

 

All of the things that happened to me that day were such important lessons: that even the smallest act of kindness toward someone (holding a door, flashing a smile, or offering to help) can really turn that person's day around, and sometimes you may not even realize it.

 

This has been another edition of

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