The Car Ahead of Me

Some mornings just come at you swinging. Today was no exception. Mine started with the usual chaos: slept through my alarm, stepped on a Lego, left the house with mismatched socks and no time to care. My gas light was on. My patience light was off.

So there I was, crawling through the Tim Horton's drive-thru, looking like a raccoon in yoga pants and sunglasses too big for my face, trying to mentally prepare for the gauntlet of the day ahead. Just me and the crumbs of hope that a medium double-double might glue me back together.

And then, something small and kind happened.

I pulled up to the window, ready to tap my card and float through the next three minutes in a fog. But the cashier just smiled—like she knew a secret.

“Oh, you’re good,” she said. “The car ahead of you paid for your coffee.”

I blinked.“Wait, what?"

“Yep,” she said, still grinning. “They just said to tell you to have a good day.”

And suddenly I wasn’t just holding a coffee—I was holding proof that magic still exists in this wild, weird world.

Because it wasn’t really about the $2.39. It was about the gesture. A stranger, somewhere up ahead in a dusty grey Honda Civic with a dreamcatcher swaying from the mirror, saw me—really saw me—and decided to toss a little light in my direction.

And on a morning where I felt flimsy, almost invisible; that mattered.

To the beautiful soul in the car: I hope you know what you did. You didn’t just buy me a coffee. You reminded me that softness still lives out here in the wild. That strangers can still surprise you in the best ways. That mornings can shift in an instant—from chaos to calm, from clenched jaws to grateful smiles.

I paid it forward, by the way--I paid for the next ten double-doubles Not to look virtuous, but because kindness like that sticks. It wants to move. Multiply. Catch fire.

So if you’re reading this, stuck in your own messy morning, may this be your sign: someone ahead of you is rooting for you. And maybe, just maybe, your next coffee is on them.

Or hey—maybe you’ll be their car ahead.

~smy