{"id":57095,"date":"2025-03-27T11:25:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=57095"},"modified":"2025-03-27T11:25:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T11:25:27","slug":"i-bought-shawarma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=57095","title":{"rendered":"I Bought Shawarma&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"519\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-1236.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-57096\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-1236.png 519w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-1236-288x300.png 288w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I bought shawarma for a homeless man and his dog on a bitter winter evening. It seemed like a simple act of kindness at the time. But when he slipped me a note hinting at a past I&#8217;d completely forgotten, I knew this was no ordinary encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I worked at a sporting goods store in a mall downtown. After 17 years of marriage, two teenagers, and countless late shifts, I thought nothing could surprise me. But life is funny that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thecelebritist.com\/df25ad33be862c7cf834a22804cb2ace7e9a64f2755384aff3816fd67ae95b87.png\" alt=\"Woman in her late 30s working in a sporting goods store while wearing winter clothes | Source: Midjourney\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Woman in her late 30s working in a sporting goods store while wearing winter clothes | Source: Midjourney<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That day had been particularly rough because holiday shoppers demanded refunds for items they&#8217;d clearly worn. Also, a register kept jamming, and my daughter, Amy, had texted me about failing another math test. We&#8217;d definitely had to think about hiring a tutor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All these things were on my mind when my shift ended. Even worse, the temperature had dropped to bone-chilling levels. The thermometer outside the store showed 26.6\u00b0F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The wind howled between buildings, whipping loose papers across the sidewalk as I walked outside. I pulled my coat tighter, dreaming of the warm bath I would set up at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On my way to the bus, I noticed a homeless man and his dog by a shawarma stand. He asked for hot water, but the vendor refused. Moved by my grandmother\u2019s lesson on kindness, I bought food for the man. Later, he gave me a note, reminding me of a past act of kindness I\u2019d long forgotten. It turned out, my small gesture had saved his life once before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=57075\">also read&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I bought shawarma for a homeless man and his dog on a bitter winter evening. It seemed like a simple act of kindness at the time. But&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57097,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57095\/revisions\/57097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}