How making a mistake & being excluded made me thankful & proud.

I wanted to take a couple minutes out of my day to say thank you to Lowe's Home Improvement, their store located on Brodie Ln, Austin, TX, Wounded Warriors Family Support, and current and former members of our armed services.

Setting the Stage

I made an online purchase for store pick-up but mistakenly selected the wrong store - a store across town. I wasn't terribly excited, especially with extra traffic from holiday shopping - but the mistake led to a discovery that overwhelmed my heart.

 Here's What Happened

After spending too much time driving in traffic, I arrived at the store and noticed an open parking spot right near the entrance.  This, I thought, was my reward for making the drive. Wrong! As I got closer, I began to see the parking spot was marked with purple, not yellow paint, and there was some type of sign - although it didn't appear to be a handicap sign. As I drove closer, I wondered aloud "What is this parking space for?". Once I arrived at the parking spot, I discovered that I would not be allowed to park in this space. I found myself tearing up as I read the sign and began thinking about who might park in the space that day.

 Who Gets to Park Here

The parking spot is reserved for recipients of the Purple Heart award. 

The space is reserved for people who not only volunteered to serve and fight to keep the freedoms I enjoy, it is reserved for people who in the course of performing the job they volunteered to perform, were injured or killed by an instrument of war during combat.

So was I upset I couldn't park in that great parking space? Absolutely not. I was proud that I couldn't park there. I was overwhelmed with feelings of appreciation, honor, humility, respect, and pride.

Thank You

Thank you Lowe's and Wounded Warriors Family Support for making the decision to reserve a special place for recipients of the Purple Heart. Thank you for putting my day in perspective. I've never been so proud to not have the right to park somewhere and I haven't stopped thinking about Purple Heart award recipients, their families, and the larger armed service community since that day. I hope I never stop thinking of them.