Good stuff happening to good people

I slacked off today.  I got completely dressed for the gym, was ready to leave at 6 a.m., and then didn’t go.  Instead, I watched a show I had Tivo’d last night.  After the show was over, I flipped to live TV and stumbled across the Ellen DeGeneres show.  I watch it on occasion if I’m home slacking in the morning, but not with any regularity.  Today’s show looked interesting in that Betty White was to be a guest.  I love Betty White.  She’s hilarious on Boston Legal.  So, I decided to Tivo the show so I could watch Betty later.  While I was setting it up to Tivo, I saw a segment wherein three women were competing for a Quizno’s franchise.  Apparently, these three women were selected from among thousands of people who had emailed an essay to Ellen as part of a contest to win a Quizno’s franchise and change their lives.  Well, the real story was that two of the women were actually staffers of Ellen’s show.  The third woman, Stephanie, is a single mom raising six kids, some in college. She works two jobs, her kids all work two to three jobs to pay for their college expenses.  She obviously is deserving.  Stephanie has already been selected as the winner, but she doesn’t know it yet – and Ellen is not ready to tell her.  Stephanie is under the impression that she and the other two women are competing in the finals for the franchise.   They are to participate in a contest which entails them going to 3 different local Quizno’s and filling a sandwich order put together by Ellen, then returning to Ellen’s studio first with the correct order.  Naturally, as Stephanie is out getting this order, Ellen is calling her with changes to the order.  Then, things go wrong at the Quizno’s (the oven breaks), and other setbacks occur.  Stephanie finally gets back to the studio at almost the exact same time as the other women. Ellen decides the outcome will come down to a taste test.  She needs to taste the sandwiches that were made for her.  She takes a bite of the sandwich that Stephanie got for her and finds a piece of paper in it.  Stephanie looks concerned, looks at the paper, and then sees that it says she is the winner.  She, of course, goes crazy, cries, screams, etc., as her 12 year-old daughter comes onto the stage from the audience.  Now, the daughter already knew her mom was the winner – they told us that at the beginning of the show.  They hug and cry and it’s really wonderful.  Then Ellen reminds her that running a business is a lot of work.  Stephanie says, “I have six kids” – built-in employees – “and they all need good jobs.”  Ellen tells Stephanie that they have hired her first five employees, at which time all five of her other kids come out, dressed in Quizno’s uniforms.  The woman is stunned, ecstatic, overwhelmed.  Ellen’s show flew them all out from Ohio to surprise their mom.  I couldn’t help it.  Tears streamed down my face.  It made me feel really great to see such a wonderful thing happen to an apparently deserving family.  I love stuff like that.  Oh, and Betty White was great, but Stephanie was awesome.