Pay It Forward Link Up!

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Happy Monday! I'm so excited to read about your pay it forward experiences in the last week!  For those of you who are just tuning in, last week I announced that I'd be hosting a random acts of kindness link up today with my sweet friend, Nicole of Bloom. Last year at this same time, I had the coolest thing happen to me! A couple paid for my dinner at a very nice restaurant. I was beside myself and in awe of the amazing gesture of kindness shown. I promised myself I would pay it forward on the year anniversary of that day, so over the weekend I did just that and asked you all to join me.  

{scenes from Disneyland via instagram @michaelanoelle}

My mom was in town to go to Disneyland with me, so we were constantly scoping out ways to bring kindness to someone there.  On Friday we ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Sitting right next to us was the cutest, most energetic little boy, who let us know multiple times it was his birthday. He was SO over-the-moon to be at Disneyland on his birthday. I saw joy in little kid's faces all day at Disneyland, but this little boy was different. Whenever I see this type of genuine happiness, it always makes me smile and reminds me to be joyful; always.  My mom overheard the boy's dad tell him he was allowed to pick out one thing at Disneyland for his present, so my mom whispered, "we should leave him some money for his birthday!"  I was so excited by this idea! Before we left, I got up and told the waiter to give this money to the little boy next to us, telling him it was a special birthday surprise. We told the waiter to let him know he could use it on something fun in Disneyland and to remember to pay it forward to someone when he grows up.

Man, to see his face when he received the money would have been amazing. This was the most animated little thing you've ever seen, so I can only imagine his excitement! My mom and I were thrilled to do this for him, and hopefully he'll do the same for someone else when he grows up :)

Nicole and I would love to read your stories of paying it forward! Link up what you did below and we'll visit each link!  If you didn't do something this week, you can do one whenever and link up with the post any time.

Happy Monday!
xoxo