A nice story of altruism

So May and I went to the mall with Auntie Nikki yesterday. We got her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. You won't be seeing the pictures because she screamed and hollered and wailed. The nice lady -- who also runs the Santa photo op -- a woman who has heard hundreds upon thousands of children freak out, a woman who has seen children who have waited in line for four hours, with parents on their fourth melt down after shopping, a woman who has seen the worst of kid-hood in horrible situations, this woman said: "I have never heard a noise like that come out of a child."

May is special. Even in extremis, she's one of a kind.

But mostly I'm here to tell you about a nice guy. I was waiting to cross Highland to get to our car (Fraulein). The crosswalk is two blocks down and two blocks back and Fraulein was right across the street, so I was prepared to wait a while since I'm not at all pushy when I don't have the magical protection fo the cross walk zebra stripes.

But some nice guy in a white van stopped and waved me a across.

I waved thanks and jogged across the street. (Please picture this: Me, with May on my hip, my mom bag over one shoulder, another bag bulging with books over one wrist, and a portfolio of papers including envelopes tucked under one arm.) And the guy started doing little attention-getting honks. At first I thought he was just looking for a further "thank you" wave. But no, he keps honking.

Turns out, May dropped her shoe in the middle of the road! Since she's only got two pair that fit now (down from four!) that would have been tragic. He then smiled and waved politely while I jogged back across the street and got the shoe.

There are nice people. I need to remember that some times.

We had a nice day today. Got to see Auntie Jenna this morning -- she's back from a trip to NYC and a visit to the Boston Ephemera show. (And looking for a 1800s parasol if anyone knows of a good vendor.) Then we went to story hour at the library and May "petted" some infant on the head so hard he cried. Anna Marie, the children's librarian, did a special round of "Tick Tock" for May because it's her favorite song. Then we had lunch, took a nice long nap (she did, I cleaned), and then we ran errands and had leek and cheve ravioli for dinner -- pan fried with carmelized onions -- and a nice melange of herbs and greens on the side.

Books Amanda's reading: White Night (good, but not good enough), Light My Fire (bad, but good), and Death by Pad Thai (interesting but uneven)

Books Christopher's reading: Utility of Force (good, but dense)