When I was a kid my father would invite veterinary students over to our house for dinner, especially international students who had to stay in Ames when everyone else went home.

I experienced the same hospitality when My parents, my sister, and I lived in Scotland—we were often the guests in the home of Ken Hosie, one of Dad’s co-workers.

Today we ventured out of the monestary where my son is living to go to his local coffee shop. It’s a good mile away, full of the hustle and bustle of the locals headed to their destinations in cars and motorcycles beeping their horns and dodging each other like that old game called Frogger.

Peyton introduced me to the owner, the barista, the waitress and the owner’s son named Tony. Everyone knew him.

Tony spent some time taking to us and I thanked him for welcoming Peyton into their “home”. He said, “that’s just what you do”. He went on to explain that several years ago he spent time in another country and no one really talked to him and he had no friends.

Paying it forward is Tony’s approach.

We can all ask ourselves how much out of our way have we gone for people visiting our country—I bet we all could do more.

Thank you Dad, Ken Hosie, and Tony for showing us the way.