Pay It Forward

One of the neat things during our trip to Spain was how child friendly it was.  Almost every public place and restaurant always had families with kids.  People always looked at Munchkin with a smile.  We commented on how unlike the US it was.

I was in Chicago changing planes on my way to my Dad who is going down hill, in a pretty morose mood, and was having dinner.  It was crowded.  I was in a section of two tops with just one table next to me.  Along comes a mother with her son who was around 4.  He was clearly a high spirited lad.  Mom sat on the side next to me and had her son on the chair opposite. 

My first reaction was what it would have been prior to our Spain trip.  "Oh geez, I just want some peace and quiet" and would have been sending out all kinds of negative vibes.  But I was watching the Mom who was trying to have her son be quiet when he was clearly excited (I found out they were going to New York because his father had been scheduled to run in the now canceled NY Marathon).  So I told Mom it was totally OK for him to play, and told her of my traipsing my one year old granddaughter around just a few weeks ago.

So then the boy comes to our side (it was a bench).  He sits next to his mother...well not really sits more like perpetually wiggles.  He's pretty shy to begin with but I find out that his favorite thing is superheros.  I want to know who his favorite superhero is but he's more interested in finding out my name and he decides it would be cool if I were a superhero and I totally agree.

We were there another 15 or 20 minutes until we both had eaten.  I was starting to give him a few playful grabs and both he and Mom seemed very happy to be relaxed instead of worrying.  I got up to go and as I'm putting my bag together, the boy comes over and gives me a big hug.  I was glowing.  What a great way to put the blues behind.