Pay It Forward

This week I'm borrowing the title for my column from the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde and the 2000 movie of the same name based in her book.  The theme of that book and the movie was, "When someone does you a big favor, don't pay it back ... pay it forward."  Well, last week I was afforded the opportunity to do just that. 

A few weeks ago I related the story of the trip my son and I took to New Zealand back in the 1970s.  On that occasion we stayed with a man and his family at their ranch on the outskirts of Auckland.  They were so friendly and hospitable that Brad and I were able to see and do several things that we would otherwise have missed.  Even more helpful was the fact that my host wouldn't allow me to pay for gas or admission to the sights and activities.

Last year a good friend in Kansas City told me that her grandson is a good golfer and that her daughter-in-law was proposing a high school graduation gift for him—a trip to Augusta to go to The Masters.  She had a pretty good line on the admission badge and was ready with airfare, but even at that early a date she was unable to find lodging for him.

Hotels in Augusta are sold out well in advance of the golf tournament.  However, since the city is overrun by tourists during Masters Week, and the roads and restaurants and such are congested with the visitors, many Augustans take their vacations during that week and rent their houses for a tidy sum to either pay for the vacation or, in some cases, to pay the mortgage for the whole year.  Even the schools here participate by taking their Spring Break during Masters Week.

When my friend told me that lodging was the big problem, I volunteered that maybe we could put the boy up in our spare bedroom if that was the only thing preventing him from coming for the golf.  She thanked me for the offer and said she would relay it to her daughter-in-law.  We left it at that.

In January of this year I received another message regarding the trip.  Some things had changed.  Now it wasn't only the grandson who was slated to come, but his father as well.  Was the offer still good?

I don't believe that I had discussed any of this with my dear wife until that time, but I broke the news to her and asked how she felt about it.  I'm not going to repeat her initial reaction for several reasons, the best of which is it wasn't very ladylike.  (She doesn't read my columns so, unless my daughter tells on me, she won't know I wrote that)  However, she did come around and said that the 2-bedroom town home we live in isn't large enough to accommodate three adults and a teenager.  Therefore, the best solution would be for the two of us to stay with my daughter and her family, since they live about 10 minutes away, and give the two boys our place to themselves for the two nights they would be here.

I relayed the word and the plan moved forward.  Everything else fell into place, and a week ago last night the two flew into Atlanta and drove over to Augusta.  All went well and even the weather cooperated on Saturday.  Sunday would have been a different story.

We met for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel on Sunday morning and got our key back and the two of them headed back to Atlanta, where they were going to watch the last round somewhere and then catch the flight back to KC. 

When we arrived home we found a few surprises, a gift card for our favorite steak house and two crystal wine glasses with the Masters imprint on them.  The gift card will be used very soon, but we decided that the wine glasses will only be used during Masters Week.  They are special and large enough that each holds almost a full bottle of wine. I will treasure them.

You must have noticed that I didn't use any names in the writing of this column.  That's because I don't want to jinx the kid, who is going to college on a golf scholarship.  And who knows?  He might someday be in the Masters himself.  If so, you'll hear it from me then.

So there's my column, and I've fulfilled my pledge to "Pay it forward."  I cannot describe how good that makes me feel. 

If you ever have someone do that something special for you—and we all do have some incident of that nature during our lives—I hope that you too have the opportunity to do something to "pay it forward," because paying it back somehow demeans the act and makes it less memorable.