Mental snapshot of love: Seen in the Bus

Mental snapshot of Love: The cheers, and quiet but giddy clapping of two playful little girls sitting together on the bus, when they are finally joined by their mother, who had been standing next to them as they sat for several stops.  Their combined, "Yays!" as they quickly slid over to make room for her made my heart smile😊

Mental snapshot on the sidewalk

A mom, in blue scrubs, on the phone, facing her teenage doppelgänger, without the latter's glasses. The teenager, in the sometimes way of teenagers, with exasperation, a touch of incredulity, insistence, and demand, stresses the word, "Mom!" to get her undivided attention. In turn, "Mom" meets her gaze with a surprised, unintentionally comic look. And passing this living sidewalk tableau, I smile, thinking of mothers and daughters.

Learning on a Subway Platform-- A man and two little ones

Standing on the downtown subway platform, awaiting my second to last connection, I looked across the tracks at the pedestrian rush hour traffic heading uptown.

A party of three caught my eye-- a man pushing a little girl in a stroller accompanied by a little boy trailing behind them.  

The man looked to be in his 40ties, wore glasses, a long sleeved dress shirt and slacks.  The little girl, possibly 3 or so, appeared to be daydreaming.  And the little boy, falling behind, the distance between him and the others growing every time he stopped to give his full attention to whatever caught his eye, looked to be around 4 or 5. 

When the guardian came to the steps, he stopped, turned around and called out to the boy.  Then, turning back around, he leaned down, picked up the stroller with its young passenger and steadily made his way up the 16 steps to the second level. Clearly, he was fit.

Now, by the time he reached the top, the young boy was still on step number 2, leaning his weight against the railing, looking back towards recently covered ground, mesmerized by something I didn't see.

When the guardian had first begun his trip up the stairs, I knew the boy would most likely fall behind.  What I didn't expect was the gentle but firm manner in which the guardian called out to him once at the top, and the patience with which he waited for the boy to join him.  Not once did I get the slightest sense of impatience from the man.  In fact, not only had he fostered a sense of independence by not insisting that the boy go ahead of him in the first place, but in addition to that, I felt I was bearing witness to a man respecting a child's pace in a way one adult might respect that of a fellow adult. That really made me take notice since, much of the time, I often see guardians trying to hurry along the children in their care. Truth be told, unless I'm waiting for a train, I'm someone who rushes through the subway station to get from point A to point B!

When the boy finally joined his guardian at the top of the stairs, the latter once again took the lead.  And when last I saw the boy, he was once again stopped in his tracks, mesmerized by something I still didn't see.

Heart Expanding at the Laundromat

Oh my heart!

I was at the laundromat folding my clothes when another customer came in and took one of the carts.

She took it outside to her car and I could see she had several bags to carry in.  Even after loading it up, she ended up carrying another bag by hand as well.

Now, as she was approaching the closed door of the laundromat, a little boy, maybe 4/5/6, the son of the lady working the morning shift, suddenly ran around me, struggled to quickly open the door, succeeded, and stood guard until the woman with the cart and clothes got through.  Then he went back to his seat where he resumed watching a PBS children's program.

His mom was in back so she didn't see what her amazing, compassionate young son had done.

What a beautiful soul! I couldn't get over how kind and aware and big hearted he had chosen to be! 

I wanted to sing his praises to his mom, but there's a language barrier, so I contented myself with singing his praises to the woman he had assisted.  And because its touched me so much, I had to share it with you, too.

And it honestly came at the perfect moment.  I really needed to witness that gesture of open hearted kindness. I really, really did♥️