Kind Act

I have been meditating on kindness a lot lately and I was thinking about some of the kindest things people have done for me. One in particular though, stands out in my mind. The person who did it probably doesn't even know how much it affected me, and he might not even remember what he did, but I will never forget it.

I was days away from giving birth to our sixth child, days away from my thirty seventh birthday and my hubby was working the three to eleven shift as a new nurse. It was early March and it was a Friday night and I was alone, big and running around after the rugrats when I heard a knock at my door.

There stood my father in law. I was surprised because he wasn't the type to just drop in without calling. I let him in and he said, "I am here to babysit. Early birthday gift. You have the night off. Go do whatever you want and I will stay with the kids."

When I got over the shock, I hightaled it out of there! Before he changed his mind!

I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. My father in law is a wonderful man, with a really great sense of humor. With each pregnancy he would say, "I can handle six, six is my limit, if you have anymore than that I won't be able to babysit." Then the next one would come along and he would say, "Seven, seven, I can handle seven. But that's my limit". I loved to tease him about that.

So on a chilly Friday night, my father in law gave me the best birthday gift ever. I went to Borders and listened to all kinds of music and lost myself in books for awhile. I was only gone a couple of hours, but that was all I needed.

What a precious memory. What a kind act. I will never, ever forget it.