You Never Know about Strangers

A few years ago, we had a great vacation in California, complete with a 5-day park hopper pass to Disneyland and California Adventure, a 2 day stay with Robert's Uncle John, and several other fun visits to local amusements. On the night of the last day of our Disneyland adventure, we stopped by the gift shops on our way back to the hotel. Robert took the kids to choose one toy each, while I went to find myself a Disney sweatshirt.

While I was browsing through the clothing racks, I had an encounter with a stranger. She was also looking through clothing racks, while her son (about 8 or 9 years old) was sleeping on the floor nearby. I can't remember what happened exactly, but she said something rude to me and I replied rudely in return. I walked away to look at a different section of clothes, but was feeling stressed and terrible about my reply to her. Not because I cared about her, mind you, but because I didn't want to end my vacation with a guilty conscience, a few minutes (and a lot of self-talk) later, I went back to her and apologized for my rudeness, explaining that I was tired...it had been a long day.

She apologized to me, as well, explaining that she had 'lost' her son for several hours that day. They were both emotionally and physically exhausted, but she wanted to get a memento of their trip before heading home the next day. As a mom, I've 'lost' my children at stores in the past, but usually only for a minute or two (to find them hiding in a clothing rack or on a different aisle than expected). That minute or two of panic is real and extremely stressful, so I can't imagine how hard it must have been for that mom to have lost her son for several hours, especially at a place like Disneyland, where there are so many strangers and possible predators all over the place. The things she must have worried about and stressed over are unimaginable to me. It made me even more glad to have apologized, hopefully making her last few minutes at the park a little less terrible than it might have otherwise been if it had ended in rude words from a stranger.

For some reason I've been thinking about that encounter a lot today. I'm not sure why today of all days, as I didn't have any run-ins with rude people or have any bad-day issues, but regardless, I thought I'd share it with you anyway. I have thought about that over the years, as well, and I've tried to remember the lesson I learned from it. We really never know what other people are going through, especially if they're strangers to us. I try to remember that if someone is rude there may be an underlying reason; maybe a love one recently passed away or is sick, maybe they lost a job and are trying to figure out how to buy enough groceries for their kids, or maybe they just had an awful day for some other unknown reason. If someone cuts you off in traffic, maybe it's because they're speeding to get to the hospital in time to say goodbye or have a pregnant wife in the car (I know Robert broke several traffic laws when I was ready to deliver). We just never know, but we can do whatever it takes to not contribute to their bad day by being rude in return.

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My youngest child, Shaya, was baptized a member of our church yesterday. In our church we believe that a child must be old enough to know right from wrong (a general rule of thumb is at least eight years old) and old enough to make their own decision on whether they want to be baptized or not. Since she turned 8 a couple of weeks ago and chose to become LDS, she had her service yesterday. It was a nice ceremony, with several friends and family in attendance. (Those same friends and family came over for dinner afterwards; I had a wonderful time socializing with them while our kids and their cousins and friends hung out together).

The thought that this is my youngest and last child to get baptized made me cry a little. All my kids are growing up! I'm going to have a house full of teenagers soon and then not too long after that, Robert and I will be empty nesters. Robert prepared a slide show DVD for Shaya of her first 8 years (he's done that for all of the kids) while I am working on a baby book of Shaya's first 8 years (I've also done that for all my kids, but this one will be given to her late). It was fun to reminisce over the early years and to see how cute and adorable our kids were as babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

It makes me a little sad, but on the other hand, I really do enjoy having older kids. I've never really been a 'baby person' (although I've adored my own babies!). Life is so much easier with kids that are independent enough to fix their own meals, clean their own rooms (not that they actually do), and get themselves ready for church or school in the morning. But even more than that, I love spending time with my kids, especially now that they're old enough to have 'real' conversations. I like reading books with them, because the books they choose these days are ones that are actually enjoyable to me, too (I do like pictures books, as well, but I hope you know what I'm getting at). I really do love all of my kids and I love the stage of life they're all in right now. Hopefully, I can remember to always enjoy the little things and not stress too much over the annoyances and occasional bratty times.

Anyway, I'm proud of Shaya for making the decision to get baptized. She's a very good person and I love her very much!