In and amongst all the disappointed mothers today, and the perpetual doom and gloom out there, I thought I’d share a lovely encounter with a stranger.
I had said early on that I wanted to go to the V&A today, followed by sushi. DH, DS 8, DS 3 and I. Sadly DS 3 had us at the museum barely an hour so we had an hour before our lunch reservation. The restaurant couldn’t accommodate us any earlier, so we went to a pizza place opposite. I was in a minor hump (period due, arrived tonight, and after reading some of the experiences of other mums here today have course corrected and am grateful) and we made our way home with some M&S cookies to remedy the mild disappointment. Our route home involved a change and as we waited in the waiting area, both children were asking myriad questions, if they could have a drink from the vending machine, how do vending machines work, where do the bottles come out from, where the train was, what the board said, they were hungry - could they have the cookies now, why not now, why did they need to wash their hands - you get the idea. A lady sitting by them looked up quite frequently at them and I thought they were perhaps bothering her and as I tried to make eye contact to engage/apologise, she would return to her book.
Our train arrived and a beautiful bird on the platform (small, a bit bigger than a sparrow, with black and white striped plumage if anyone knows it) had us all commenting on it. The lady and I made eye contact and smiled at each other. An internal sigh of relief. She had not been annoyed.
She boarded the same carriage as us. Our two sat together on two seats, DH and I sat diagonally opposite them, across the aisle (the seat across from them was occupied and DH reasoned we could keep a better eye on them this way). The lady took the seat in front of them. DS 3 asked if he could play with his tray table (the squeaky kind - THE WORST) my response, only that he could put it down but couldn’t play with it. The lady made eye contact and smiled and I said ‘I wish I had some WD40 for these tables - they are so squeaky’. Her response? ‘I wish I had grandchildren so we’re wishing for very different things!’ I didn’t know how to respond. Did she have children? Could they not conceive? Could they be gay? I wanted to say ‘you are welcome to these two’ but didn’t know how that would land with either the children or the lady 😅 I fumbled and said something else about the trays and she reached into a bag, pulling out some daffodils wrapped in foil, a small bundle. She offered it to DS3 to give to me, and then gave one to DS8 to do the same. She had made them at church and had planned to give them on the train to mothers. I was so touched. I reached out to squeeze her fingers and said thank you, that is so kind. We spoke about her church and that she was visiting her daughter. She got off mere minutes later. We parted ways wishing each other Happy Mother’s Day and I said ‘I hope your wish comes true if it’s able to’ She smiled and disembarked. I still have warm and fuzzies typing this out 8 hours later and I hope recounting this has done the same for you. What a lovely person ♥️
So much more good and kindness out there than bad. I intend to try and pay her kindness forward and not be so quick to think the worst!