A Smile on My Face

by Libbie

Today I went to Birmingham for a doctor’s appointment.  After my visit, I pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot and noticed a sign. “Open 24 hours – Dine in or Drive-thru” Wow, I thought. That’s pretty cool!  I wondered how many people actually go to the McDonald’s in the middle of the night. I knew that if I were in Birmingham, one of those people would probably be me.  I could see myself, as I had done many times, walking to the McDonald’s to get something for Lauren.  You see, she’s real picky about eating, or at least she was when she was a kid, and she sure hated hospital food.  So, everyday I would walk down to the McDonald’s or the Burger King to get her something to eat.  She especially liked pickles, so I would walk in and ask the person at the counter if I could get some pickles for my daughter.  They were always happy to do that. 

I guess there are lots of people with family in the hospital that go out to get food.  One time, I drove all the way over to the other side of Birmingham to Olive Garden.  When I came in with the take-out bag, you could smell it all over the place.  The nurses were drooling.  As it turned out, Lauren hardly ate any of it, so I gave it to the nurses and they were living it up that night.  I never minded the walk or the drive, I was just trying to make my little girl happy. 

I was only planning to get a Diet Coke this time, so I decided to use the drive-thru service. As I pulled to the window to pay, there was a Ronald McDonald money slot for people to put in change or bills to go to the Ronald McDonald House.  I don’t always notice the ones that are sitting on the counters inside.  I’m usually in a hurry to grab my stuff and go, but today when I saw the slot, I threw my change in.  It wasn’t very much, but then, it didn’t have to be. I just had a good feeling being a part of helping someone else. I hope that my little bit of change would go towards someone’s little girl or boy.  And that made me smile.