There are still

F I R S T S

no matter how old you ever get to be.

Erin and I visited Niagara Falls over the 4th of July

last year.        .        .

it’s one of our favorite,

not-t0-far-away-places to visit.        .        .

It was early in the morning

as a Starbucks was opening

and we had just placed our orders

when a young man came in and asked us

if were were planning on going to the Casino

sometime  T H A T   day

and when we told him more than likely we would be going

he offered us a Poker Chip

for exchange of the money it was worth.

S                 C                A                M  ?

I told him it wasn’t necessary because I would glad to buy him

whatever he wanted.

He immediately got very shy and taken aback.

“No, No, you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to do it, no problem.  What would you like–anything you want.”

He ordered a breakfast sandwich and a shaken iced-tea.

This, to me,

is where it got extremely interesting.

The two baristas who were working that morning

couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.

“Oh, that was so nice.  I can’t believe you did that.      .      .  “

“That just gave me chills and made my heart flutter.      .      . “

And even the young man,

severely embarrassed and humbled stammered,

“I can’t believe it; what a great thing to do.  I don’t know how to even thank you. . . .”

he went on about how that was an unbelievably nice thing to do

as he offered up that he plays Poker every day for a living

(he barely looked old enough to even get into a Casino)

and when I asked him how that was working for him

he showed me a hand full of chips.

S          U          R          P          R          I          S          E           D

by each of their reactions

even more surprised

that the baristas remembered me

as they guy who bought breakfast for the guy

who wanted to exchange chips.

Did I play Poker

that morning.       .

Did   I   Gamble

and lose.          .          .          ?

or

did      I      Win

by going all

I      N  ?

Psssssssssssst:

I didn’t go on to later win thousands at the Casino later that day

but make no mistake about it

by being a

C a r i n g     C a t a l y s t

in one early morning

isolated incident

I won over

the imaginations of

three who will now

think differently

about

C A S H I N G     I N

There   are   still

F          I          R          S          T          S

no matter how old you ever get to be—

BET   IT

Better   still

Make’em!