“Something beautiful happened this past weekend that we would like to share. On Saturday morning at our beach location, one of our favorite regulars walked in to order her usual. I noticed it was taking her a little longer to order her drink, so I glanced over and saw that she was crying. I hurried over to make sure everything was alright and the employee on the register was choked up as well. I asked if everything was okay and the employee handed me this post card and the customer started explaining what happened.
She explained to me that her best friend growing up just recently lost her husband, Christopher Slutman, while he was serving as. She told me how Chris was always serving others whether it was in the Marines or as a firefighter. Through the tears she was able to tell me with a light laugh that whenever him and his buddies would go out to a coffee shop, his friends would all get black coffee and he would always get a big pink smoothie with extra whipped cream on it.
She told me how Chris is survived by his wife and his three young daughters. (My son just turned 11 months old today and I am heartbroken to think of these young girls losing their father). She explained that she wanted to do something in his memory, and she thought what better way than to buy someone’s fun drink (like a big frozen drink with whipped cream!). She wanted us to hand this card to them so they could also carry out a random act of kindness in his honor.
Throughout the day, this one beautiful gesture became something even more beautiful. We used this card and money for a young couple with a young baby. They were blown away by it and asked if they could pay it forward to another customer in Chris’ honor. When we gave the money and card to another couple of customers later on, they also asked us if they could pay it forward in Chris’ honor.
We are blown away to see how many people carried out a random act of kindness in Chris’ memory. He gave his life serving our country and through these beautiful gestures, the memory of Chris’ life was honored. We ask that if you’re able, to please carry out a random act of kindness sometime this week, in honor of Chris.
‘Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.’ – John 15:13”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Coffee Tyme. Follow them on Instagram here. The post originally appeared here. Do you have a similar experience? We’d like to hear your important journey. Submit your own story here, and subscribe to our best stories in our free newsletter here.
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