Saturday, August 14, 2010

kindness of strangers


We hadn't been in the store two minutes
before I'd started thinking,
"This was a mistake.
Big.
Huge."

I missed the last two thread sales;
I sure didn't want to miss another one.
I had a whole box full of plush FOE
just waiting to be perfectly paired up with thread.

Lexi
turned into
The Beastie
as soon as we got over to the thread aisle.

To make matters worse,
optimistic fool that I am
had decided it would be fun for the kids to help match the colors.
Umm.
Not so much.
Fun for them, yes; for me,
no.
Brandon lovingly took Lexi walking through Hancocks
while we worked on our matching skills.
Josiah isn't too bad, actually.
Lily & Jeremiah may need to have their eyes checked!

I had several other things to look at
and by the time I was about ready to have them cut my fabric
I was pretty much done.
And then
this very well put together lady
with an adorable
(but huge!)
purse
stopped me and said,
"You are a good mother!"
I smiled the smile of the weary and replied,
"Well, thank-you. I don't feel much like a good mother.
I feel very impatient right about now."
It just takes so long shopping and running errands
with a passel of kids.
They love to look at (and touch) everything.
"Well, of course you are a bit impatient;
look where you are. You are in a fabric store with children."
I appreciated her comment
but
I was still weary
and I was still in a fabric store with a bunch of kids.
And I couldn't leave quite yet...
~
Then I got to chatting with the sweet little old lady next to me
while our fabric was being cut.
I asked what she was doing with her's
(I almost always do that - kinda funny, for an introvert)
and we talked for several minutes.
And she began admiring my 'lovely family'.
Then her friend, Bernie
(I refrained from telling them that is my dog's name...)
came over to visit to.
And they talked to the little ones
and praised my big helper
(whom they guessed was fifteen)
and told me over and over what a lovely family we were.
And I remembered
that
we really are a lovely family.
I forget sometimes.


1 comment:

  1. Yes, you really are a lovely family!

    We love each and every one of you!

    ReplyDelete

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