The Mystery Man who bought my daughter a cup

My wife went to pay for a new cup for my daughter and realised she had left her wallet in the car. With that she asked the cashier to hold her item and she'd be back in 3 minutes to pay. As she walked away from the checkout she smiled at a man, another customer, in his 70s, who smiled back - a "friendly and warm smile" she said. She returned to pay for her item, to be told that the person with whom she'd shared a moment had settled the bill for her, and had since left the shop.

No message passed, no waiting for an acknowledgement, or need of a thank you. A simple gesture of kindness in exchange for nothing in return.

What struck me was the feeling that my wife had experienced when it happened, how my daughter likely felt because of how her mum was feeling, and how it made me feel when she told me the story. It wasn't about the paying for the item, it was the act itself that stuck such a chord.

What the motivation of that man was, we'll never know. But what we do know is how a simple act completely changed how we all [my family] felt after it.