Week 10 - ' The supermarket one!'

The 10th challenge already, which means a fifth of the way there! I think I have found this weeks' the most difficult to do to date. I haven't gone out of my comfort zone much so far and this one was definitely going to do this!
For those of you who have been following my blog you may remember the week that I was going to 'pay for someone's shopping at the supermarket'. When people heard about this they said things like,'ooh, let me know when you're going and I'll get in line' or 'make sure you go to Lidl and find someone with a basket' or even,'ooh, you're so good'. Let me say to these people that Lidl was always going to be the only option as it's practically the only place where I shop and I'm really not that good judging by how nervous I was! - I mean, how good can you be if you're nervous about doing a kindness for someone?
I have to admit, therefore, to having chickened out on my first intentioned visit. I thought I needed to search for a 'worthy' recipient, so I sort of stalked people around the store and then tried to race them to the checkout. In the end the very nice woman didn't seem to fit the bill. I was laughable and a bit pathetic.
Following this farcical charade, I realised the challenge was to simply perform an act of random kindness; I wasn't conducting a sociological survey for goodness sake! Random act, random choice. I determined to pay for the shopping of whoever came next to me in the queue. That's exactly what happened on my next visit.
The utterly amazed, elderly lady who generously and graciously accepted my offer asking the obvious question why, was completely overwhelmed. I say generous by the way because I believe it's sometimes more difficult to receive than to give especially in these days of cynicism and suspicion. Fortunately, Anna was trusting and required no persuading that I was neither a con-artist nor a wierdo and we enjoyed a lovely conversation over the groceries! She said lots of lovely things (not least that I didn't look 50!) - no seriously and much more importantly she said it was the nicest thing that had ever happened to her and that her friend Connie outside in the car-park would be equally amazed. They kept shaking their heads in wonder and incredulity and were encouraged 'that there were still nice people in the world'.
All in all, this random act of kindness cost me very little financially, just a certain amount of courage to overcome my fear of looking a fool, but for a lonely older lady, I like to think an extraordinary encounter gave her a little joy and warmed her heart on an otherwise very ordinary day.