A Random Act of Kindness

This morning was not a good one. Kittyboy was very distressed by SOMETHING (I think teething but can't say for sure). He was crying easily, upset at every small transition, he was VERY "off". It culminated in him grabbing two fistfuls of hair and, with grunting and effort, pulling the hair out of his head. I could see the strands between his fingers from across the room, it was that much. And he didn't seem to notice any pain from that whatsoever. Thank God, no scalp was damaged, but it was quite disturbing.

So we needed a change of scenery. I didn't know what to do for him about the hair-pulling, but he's always calmed down outside, and though it was drizzling, I strapped him in his carrier and we went out for a walk. I didn't know where to look for our umbrella, I've not used it in years, I just knew we needed to get out. We'd take the bus to Walmart or something. So we walked, and walked, while it turned from a drizzle to steady rain.

Then a car came towards us and stopped, on the opposite side of the road, just before we got to the bus stop. I thought, "Oh great, someone to tell me my child needs a coat, that my child shouldn't be out in the rain, just great. I don't need this right now." So I was bracing for impact, as a lady jumped out of the car and ran across the road with an umbrella. She just gave me the umbrella!!! I asked if I could return it, and she said no, she had several at home, and she'd just seen us out and wanted us to have an umbrella. I thanked her - had I not been in total shock, I would have tried to get her name or something. And when she got back in her car, she turned around and drove the opposite direction. So it wasn't even that she was driving along and had an umbrella in the car - she had driven home to GET one!

What a wonderful angel!

And as we stood at the bus stop, the skies DID open up, and it was pouring, solid water. We would have been absolutely soaked to the bone without the umbrella.

I'm going to buy an umbrella that folds up tiny, to keep in my backpack (the walking and bus-riding diaper bag), and keep this one in the car. Hopefully we see someone sometime walking in the rain without an umbrella.