What 10 cake stands taught me about choosing kindness

This happened way back in December, and as I was sorting through my photos chronologically as I've been undertaking my massive 6 month update, I knew I didn't was to forget this memory.

An event planner had contacted me in December to see if I could do a rush order for 10 cake stands.  I checked my inventory, and by some miracle I did have 10 cake stands in the exact size she needed.  So she went ahead and ordered them.

I got them all packaged up in their nice protective bubble wrap and boxed neatly in an open box for me to then take to FedEx to have them finish the packaging process and ship them.

It was an extra cold winter day.  I was fully bundled which makes you feel like a marshmallow, or Eskimo, or like you are wearing a giant quilt- any of those work- the point is you have no room to move nor feel much of anything because you don't want anything exposed to the cold.

Back to the point-  I must have slipped on some ice or something, I honestly don't know exactly what happened in my bundled state, and maybe that prevented me from feeling or noticing the ice.  All I know is that about 5 of the plates went flying out of the box.

This was my first mishap like that in almost 3 years of making cake stands.

I was dumbfounded, shocked, sad, worried, anguished all at once.  Part of the problem was it was a rush order so there was no time to remedy the situation.  This was also an expensive problem.

I hurried and looked at the plates.  I think 3 of them were damaged pretty badly if I remember correctly and two of them had a little damage but didn't suffer too badly and were ok.

I quickly contacted the planner and explained everything.  I found 3 more plates in my inventory that were a slightly different size to replace the badly damaged ones and she fine with those.  And then she gladly accepted the 2 that were somewhat damaged but still workable.  I did give her a little bit of money back for the damaged items.  Normally if it wasn't a rush order, we would have just started over and made everything over again so they would arrive in perfect condition.

I sent it off at FedEx and was so, so, so thankful that the planner was so understanding.  What touched me was she was concerned if I was okay, she was willing to work with a few scratches and knew the food on it would cover it up, she was still appreciative, she was willing to take the different sized cake plates to replace the damaged ones, and then she sent me this photo and raved about us.  Oh my Gosh.  Such kindness on so many levels.  It made me want to be a better person and treat others well when things don't go exactly as planned or when accidents happen.  I can't say how much I appreciate that lesson and being on the reciprocating end of kindness.  And the other important thing is seeing that it did not ruin the event and she still had her stunning display.  Looking back, I just got to thinking, what if she had acted differently?  Could she still have had this amazing presentation?  She handled things smartly, and it is just the right way to act for so many reasons, and I am grateful I could learn from this experience.