The Orange

Sometimes little things happen that take your breath away. That suddenly renews your faith in mankind, and reminds us that we aren’t doing such a bad job adulting and raising future generations. Here’s an eye opening, heart swelling, tear invoking experience that happened to us today.

Addison had an appointment this morning. Now when I make these appointments, I’m in the mindset of let’s get them over with. When the morning actually comes, it’s always laying around playing Words With Friends and scrolling Facebook until it’s close enough that I start to panic. This morning was no different. As we were running out of the house I grabbed a protein shake and Addie grabbed a banana and a couple of oranges. We jumped in the car and somehow hit all the green lights. We made it in plenty of time.

After her appointment we called Chuck. We couldn’t wait to tell him what a great job she did. With my new car I have the magic of talking hands free. Hybrid speaker phone I call it. I still lean toward the radio to do it, which makes me giggle because my friends Tim and Greg were the first to witness my new trick, and they may still be laughing. I’ll get the hang of these bells and whistles eventually.

So there we were sitting at a light talking to Chuck. She had finished her part of the conversation, so I was doing most of the talking while she was gazing out the window. On the corner there was a man holding a sign. The sign said something to like hungry will work for money or food. I was so busy in my own little Friday errand/mom/housewife bubble that I didn’t give him a second glance. Now there was a time in my life where things like that would tug at me. I have always wanted to save the world somehow. Unfortunately I’ve hardened over time. I’ve become cynical and guarded. I’m not sure when it happened. It must have been so slowly over time, that I never noticed it until today.

Chuck and I were discussing something over the magical speaker phone and Addison interrupted with a “hey mom.” I instantly snapped back with, “No Addison we are not giving him any money.”Her big eyes looked at me, and that’s when she said, “Mom I have this extra orange, I’m not going to eat it and he’s hungry.” Holy shit…. First of all I felt like a complete and utter jackass for my knee jerk response, and second my kid is awesome. She rolled down her window, and with her little 10 year old little hand she gave the man her orange. His eyes light up as he said “Thank you sweetheart”. Thank God the light turned green because I might have given him every dime I had and then hit the ATM.

It’s amazing how these little events can have such a huge impact. All day I’ve praised her and let her know how incredibly proud I am of the person she is. She is absolutely, positively one of my favorite human beings. She amazes me and teaches me every day. Today she reminded me that kindness is priceless, and apparently eating chicken nuggets without the breading just “hits different.”