Can I please tell you my favorite #mitziwink story of the week?!
It was really on my heart to help make some kind of breakfast available for the tent that is set up for the top Walk teams (of which, we are currently one of those). I knew there probably wasn’t a huge budget for such things because the Alzheimer’s Association runs things pretty lean to maximize the productivity of each dollar that comes in.
Mitzi was always talking about her friends who ran a couple of the local Chick-fil-A restaurants, and it occurred to me to call and check with one of them to see if we could get a discount on a few sandwiches for the tent. I explained the situation to the Operator who had known Mitzi and her family and had even been on a mission trip with them before. He said he’d think it over and would call me the following day. Bright and early the next morning, he called me and said, “Ansley, I will have 150 chicken biscuits ready for you to pick up Saturday morning.” Knowing we had a little donated money that could go towards it, I said, “That’s great! How much will that come to?”
“It’s a gift. I want to do this for Mitzi and the cause. I don’t know how Gary did what he did taking care of her and how the kids made it through this…no, this is a gift. Please allow me to do this.”
As I started to form the words that this was too much, and we could definitely afford to offset some of the costs, I heard Mitzi’s constant advice to me echoing in my head, “If you can learn to be a gracious receiver, you will reap volumes of love…” She knew I was terrible at just accepting the kindness and generosity of people who want to help. She knew I was so much more comfortable being the giver instead. But what she taught me, time and time again, was that giving someone the opportunity to be a blessing to you is actually giving them a gift in and of itself. It’s hard to feel worthy of that kind of lavish kindness. But I began understanding that lesson with Mitzi and she is obviously still trying to teach it to me now.
I simply thanked Mr. Storm for the great gift he was offering for those who were walking.
When the boys and I went there today with the hopes of catching him at the store to thank him, he wasn’t available. We had lunch instead. I always get a kid’s meal if I go to CFA. Andy looked at the bag and said, “Mom! They put a Ms. Mitzi Cheerleader cow on your bag!” How perfect, I thought, as I smiled. Even the candy reminded us that this whole situation was “mint to be.”
What a generous gift. Thank you so much, Marinus Storm and Chick-fil-A Butler Pointe Plaza! ????
