Thanksgiving Thursday: Paying it forward

My two workers!

Today I am thankful for the ability to pay it forward. That might sound strange, but for me, it's a really big deal. Several years ago, hubby was struggling to find work. We had two small children (one was a baby) and two teenagers, with no prospects in sight. Then hubby met this guy on one of his jobs who said, "are you ever interested in doing any side work?"

A beautiful partnership was born. Hubby did a lot of work for this guy and for a long time, those jobs kept us us in diapers. After a few jobs, however, they got stuck doing this house and the people were jerks, and long story short, hubby and his friend did a ton of work they never got paid for. Such is the life of a contractor. Fortunately, work for hubby had picked up, so he had a job to fall back on. The other guy ended up giving up his contracting business and getting a job.

Fast forward to now. We've stayed in touch with the guy, and the economy is hitting him hard. He's facing foreclosure, and work has really slowed down for him. One of hubby's side clients recently came to him with a big job- too big for hubby to handle on his own and still work the day job. So he called this guy, and now his friend has a little extra work. It's not a lot, but it's enough to make me feel absolutely blessed that in this economy, we're able to put someone to work and repay the favor he did for hubby all those years ago. Plus, because I still remember the difference those jobs made in our life, I know that even what I see as a small amount is probably huge to them.

Is there someone you're thankful for being able to help today?