Surprised by random acts of kindness

At 6 p.m. tonight, I got a text message that our town's schools are closed tomorrow due to the impending storm. Minutes later, R's preschool followed suit. So, A and I decided to go out to dinner at my beloved Friendly's as sort of a last-chance-to-get-out-of-the-house-for-a-few-days effort. Plus, we had coupons. :-)

R was absolutely exhausted. He didn't want to go, even with the promise of ice cream for dessert. Huh?!? The only way we could convince him to go out was by me promising to ride in the back seat of the car with him. Awwww. R loves me more than ice cream! Hee hee.

The restaurant was short-staffed, and it took a long time to get our order in, get our food, etc. R was so tired that he didn't want to eat. (He may also be coming down with something.) Instead, he curled up on my lap and nestled into my neck. While we waited for our ice cream (we ordered it to go), he asked me to write down words on his placemat for him to practice reading.

It was then that an older woman who had been sitting clear on the other side of the restaurant came up to our table to thank us for having such a wonderfully behaved child! She told R that he was a very good boy and commented to us how it must be so enjoyable to go out to dinner with him. I was floored. What a kind thing to say! I almost told her that it was because R wasn't feeling well and was really tired, but I shut my mouth so that R could feel good about the praise without me cutting it down. And, as I thought about it more, he really is quite well behaved these days when we go out to eat. I was very proud of him.

Then, as we were about to leave, the mom at the table next to ours stopped us and asked if we had paid our bill yet. She had the same coupon book as us and wanted to share her coupons!

I was really touched by both of these small acts of kindness. I hope I can find ways to pass the love on to someone else this week.