Pay it forward

Last week we went to the Chicago concert. The whole experience was blog worthy, but I will save that for later. This post is reserved for praises for two wonderful women we met at the concert. They were seated next two us. Two friends since elementary school who were about my mom's age. They take an annual trip together and this was their week. They had come from Canada to see the band. They were as excited (if not more) than we were. When they were about to enter, they overheard the security saying any cameras would be confiscated. They were so worried about this, they returned to their room, left their cameras behind and came back into line. My camera was in my purse, in plain view, and it did not get confiscated.

After a few songs, we realized most people around us also had cameras and were not afraid to use them. Our friends were disappointed, we were encouraged to take ours out! So I got a few pictures and videos of our friends and the band. I took an email address and told them I would send them when we returned from our trip. They were so very very grateful! At the end of the concert they asked us if they could buy us a drink or two to say "thank you" in advance. We declined and told them to "pay it forward". We said, someday you will be in the position to make a memory for someone else and we hoped they would take to opportunity like we had.

Well...our friends really took this to heart. After sending the pictures, I got a reply that warmed my heart. Let's back up for a minute. During the concert, there was a man who got to come on stage and sing a song with the band. He had won this opportunity, backstage passes and front row tickets after being the highest bidder on an auction for the opportunity. The money raised all went to breast cancer research. Awesome! So flash forward to the email I received...after returning to Canada, one of the ladies went on the band website and found they would be playing this weekend only a few hours from her home. She eagerly bid on the chance to sing with the band and won! She was really excited about the opportunity, and then remembered our "pay it forward" conversation. It was then that she contacted her local breast cancer survivors group and asked them if they thought they could find a survivor who loves Chicago and might want the package. Yep, in addition to donating money to the research fund, she also donated her winning tickets to a survivor! What a woman! That is the most awesome "pay it forward" story I have heard, I think, ever.