Kindness Has a Funny Way of Finding Its Way Back.

In my early 20s, I worked as a flight attendant. (Surprised?) It was a great job right out of college, when I wasn't quite sure where my career was headed.

On one flight to Hawaii, there was an older couple sitting quietly near the back of the plane.

They were from Montana. They didn't travel much, and this was a very special trip for them. Maybe even a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

We happened to have two empty seats in first class.

So I moved them up.

For the next four hours, I spoiled them.

Dinner. Drinks. Champagne. The works.

They were overwhelmed.

Honestly, I think I was having as much fun as they were.

When we landed, I sent them off with a couple bottles of champagne from the plane.

As they were leaving, the gentleman shook my hand and slipped me a handwritten note.

It said:

“If you're ever in Butte, please call us.”

I smiled, put the note away and didn't think much more about it.

Four months later, I found myself in Butte, Montana.

On a whim, I called the number.

They immediately asked where I was staying.

Not long after, they pulled up to my hotel, picked me up and brought me back to their home for dinner.

We ate. We talked. We laughed.

And for a few hours, two people I'd met on an airplane four months earlier made me feel like an old friend.

At the end of the evening, they drove me back to my hotel.

I've never forgotten them.

I thought I'd done something special for them on that flight.

Four months later, they did something pretty special for me.

Maybe that's the thing about kindness.

It doesn't keep score.

It just travels.

And every once in a while, it finds its way back.