I had on my list, from the beginning, that I would pay for the person behind me in the drive thru. In fact, it was supposed to happen during the first week. I bought my breakfast at McDonald’s and despite being very unhappy to learn that they’d dropped the biscuit sandwiches back in the spring, I asked to pay for the car behind me. The nice woman said sure. She rang through my breakfast, kept my change, and then brought up the next order. She looked puzzled for a moment, and then she said that ‘their order is already paid.’

What?!?

I drove off wondering if that is their policy if people offer to pay, as it can get confusing if everyone starts paying for the car behind. But I watched the car in my rear view mirror and the driver didn’t seem to stop long to pay. I wondered if I’d try to pay for a person related to the owners… someone who never pays!

Fine. I decided that the drive thru thing hadn’t felt great anyway. I’d been so stressed about it as I drove into town that I thought I should do something else. But I never found an opportunity to do a good deed for the rest of the month.

Then on the last night, my Birthday Eve, I went through a different McDonald’s drive through for a happy meal and got a Smurfette toy. She’s holding a pink birthday gift, which I thought was fantastic. There was nobody in line behind me so I just drove home.

On the way home I decided that instead of paying it forward to a stranger, I would make a more sizeable donation to Mackenzie Richmond Hill hospital, formerly York Central, where my grandmother passed away 30 years ago. This feels better to me, as it has more personal meaning. I’ll do something nice for strangers when the pressure is off.