Kindness is sweeter than chocolate

Whoa, now. That kind of title would tend to get me riled up. I mean I believe in kindness and all but...
I have to admit, there is not much better to my personal sweet palate than deliciously smooth dark chocolate. I just love it! And it is good for you...you know this right!?! Really the two simply should not be lumped into the same category but for this occasion I will let it ride.

On a side note to my loyal readers; I simply cannot write the last of my wedding story yet, my heart is not in it...and it really needs to be to come across well. I am unsettled in my life, which makes me unsettled in my brain, which makes me an unsettled writer. So, I will go the easy route and at least have some form of self expression out on the table.
All the hubbub of regular life, with a bit of moving madness jumbled in has provided me a story to relate to you.

I have no problem being a spontaneous kind of gal. I am good at last minute plans and going with the flow. That said, I am also an avid planner about some things. When packing for a picnic for instance, I'd be sure to walk through every step of the process in my mind so as to not be lacking in anything needed for a lovely picnic experience.
What if you want to have watermelon, but you bring no knife to cut it. What if you want a sandwich but bring no mustard? What if you have plates but not napkins? The possibilities for a disastrous picnic are many, and I personally like to conquer them all.
So....when I found myself throwing some stuff in the cooler bag yesterday as I was running out the door, I knew I was in for disaster..but what can you do? There was simply no time to plan it out in great detail.

We decided to meet some people at the park for a little picnic and fellowship. I arrived with my hastily packed cooler bag...and my children.
Let's see, I didn't pack..
plates,
napkins,
chips,
pickles (doesn't everyone bring a jar of pickles to a picnic??),
a trash bag,
or
duh duh dunnnnnnnn
DESSERT!!!
You simply must have dessert on a picnic.
It seals the deal, makes it official, speaks of all things good in the world!!!

It was my intention to make some yummy dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but alas I was once again kicked out of my house for some sort of inspection and was therefore empty handed on the dessert front.

I asked around to my fellow picnickers. Wait, is picnickers a real word?? Hmmm... strange, oh well lets go with it for the sake of the story okay?
I asked around to my fellow picnickers..."Did you bring any dessert?"
I asked everyone ...sure to include all within earshot.
Then I got more specific...
"Did any of you bring any chocolate chip cookies?"
Seriously who doesn't bring chocolate chip cookies to a picnic?
Well, these picnickers did not!! I was aghast!!

One family had those awful sugar cookies with the yellow icing piled high then sprinkled with the little colorful polka dots. Blech!!!! They are so fun to look at but, I have no desire to waste the calories on the dreadful things. No offense, but those things are nasty!!
The other family had brought freshly baked cookies from Subway. They specifically chose them because they were fresh from the oven, normally a good choice, right!?
However, much to my chagrin...they were also a sugar cookie. I did suffer through a bite of one of these, with great dismay. I really, really just wanted my dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and there simply was no substitute for my weary soul.

This particular park is nestled between a shopping center and some very nice condos. So, you often see people walking home with their shopping bags filled with their purchases. This lovely evening was no exception. I saw a gentleman walking leisurely with his four small bags, two in each hand.
I wondered in my mind...hmmmm maybe he has dark chocolate chip oatmeal cookies in his shopping bags??
Then I questioned out loud...."I wonder if he has any chocolate in his shopping bags" (Intimating that even a stranger knows that you are supposed to have chocolate available at all times to a crazy woman weary from the trials of moving. )
This made my fellow picnickers laugh as I had already hounded all of them several times for this very treat.
While I am sometimes a shy and reserved person...when it comes to food, I tend to forget my boundaries. I suggested that I was going to ask this fellow H.E.B. shopper if he had any chocolate in his bags. (HEB is a grocery store chain which I do also shop at, may even go today!)
My other picnicking friends kind of laughed this off, but I was a woman on a mission and found myself speaking before I could stop the words from coming off my tongue.

I shouted in a friendly manner, "You wouldn't happen to have any chocolate in those bags would ya?" He slowed, looking around to be sure I was actually speaking to him, then stopped, looked down at his shopping bags seemingly taking a mental inventory. He made some sort of internal decision because he then started walking toward us while reaching awkwardly into his bag.
He confidently said "No, I don't have chocolate, but I do have something better!"

SOMETHING BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE...UUUHHHHHH....boy did he have my attention!
What could possibly be better than chocolate nestled down in his fantastic plastic shopping bag?
I waited.
He dug around.
I saw him begin to withdraw a box. A box...of what...I could hardly bear it!!!
I waited.
He then commented "Yes, here you go, better than chocolate!"

I for one, was shocked and amazed that he even chose to stop and give my friendly holler a notice, let alone pull something from his sack to share.
He counted our little group and assured himself that yes, there were enough in the box for everyone to have a treat and handed the light blue box over with a huge smile.
We were awestruck and thanked him profusely for his kindness, all of us beaming up smiles at him from our positions on the picnic blanket. (ok, fine it was actually a few beach towels I had called to tell my oldest son to bring when my buddy picked him up. The picnic blanket is thrown over the loveseat which is thrown in the garage to make our little house seem more spacious.)

We finally turned the box over to find that he had given us a box of orange flavored lite popsicles.
Baahhhhh ha ha ha ha ha... He must be crazy to think that that is better than chocolate!!
The taste of the popsicle surely wasn't comparable to the deep rich chocolate flavor explosion I was craving, but his generosity was palpable! He sincerely gave up something he thought would be a treat to complete and total strangers and walked away smiling!
That really touched me, on a day I needed touching!

Just thought I would share that with you!

PS...as the rest of the group was walking to another portion of the park, I popped into a little grocery store and bought a chocolate bar. A dark chocolate bar.
I must admit I contemplated hiding in a dark corner and consuming all of it before anyone could catch me, but I remembered I was an adult, rejoined the group, and broke off generous hunks of it to share. Aren't you proud of me!!