Every one who has ever been shopping with a child - baby, infant, newborn, whatever age - knows that inevitably, the little blessing is going to show off their lung capacity from time to time. and there are always going to be Scrooge-like customers who send glares your way that make you want to curl up in a ball and join in on the crying. But yesterday i experienced something different.
first of all, let me tell you that my daughter has never been much of a screamer. every time people see her they always ask, "is she always so smiley?" or comment on how every time they see her she's all smiles and giggles. but for the last week or two, she has been sick. first a minor cold, then a stomach virus, and now back to a cold (who said breast fed babies rarely get sick? they were mistaken.) so understandably so, she is a bit cranky lately.
now normally, i wouldn't dare brave the crowds at walmart on the eve of Christmas eve, but hey, baby's need diapers right? so all the way through walmart she was trying to get out of the seat and sniffling and coughing, and whimpering a little, nothing to bad...yet. any parent can tell you that one of the most effective ways of keeping a baby calm is to keep them in motion - rocking, walking, bouncing, etc - but when the motion stops...bring on the crying.
so here i am, standing in the 20 items or less line, with about 3-4 people in front of me, and of course they're those people who conveniently happen to be oblivious to the fact that a they CLEARLY have about 100 items in their cart, but oh well, what can you do right? Anyway, so i'm waiting in line and trying to keep my 8 month old calm with her rattles and her teethers and even giving her my phone to play with - side note, the your baby app for the iphone is SUCH a blessing, fyi - but nothing is worth it. just when i start get get discouraged that nothing i'm doing is working and i start to question my super mommy skills, a nice old man walks up to me, who had been standing 2 people in front of me with his wife, and he hands my little girl the a stuffed cat, the one in the picture above. he said that someone had sat it on the cooler by the check out and he thought she might like to have it so he and his wife bought it for her. how nice is that? and she really did like it, she wrapped both arms around it and - you guessed it - right in the mouth went the nose of that pretty pink aristocat. i thanked him and offered to pay him and his wife back but he refused, and said that they had babies once too, and with a "merry christmas" on they went.
now i know what some of you are thinking, how could you let a your baby play with something given to her by a total stranger. well, to ease your worries, i had seen the cat on the cooler when i got in line and thought, "i guess someone decided that their kid didn't need it" and then went on trying to calm my sweet girl down.
i don't know about you, but random acts of kindness such as these restore my faith in humanity. i realize we live in a sinful world, that gets worse and worse every day. but there is still good in people, and there is hope for humanity if we just forget our differences and learn to love one another as Christ loves us.
Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!
What a beautiful story.
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