The kindness of strangers.
Nov. 28th, 2010 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaWe're home. It could have been much worse.
Colin threw up once on the train and once on the sidewalk in Baltimore. In between he lay limp and floppy on my lap, barely speaking or moving. He asked several times for food. I hate when they're too young to understand why they have to be deprived. At least I could nurse him, and did. He seems to be keeping it mostly down, although not entirely.
Michael and Alex were awesome. But so were a bunch of other people:
The taxi driver at the Williamsburg train station. We were running late this morning, for tolerably obvious reasons. We got our stuff unloaded at the station with about 20 minutes left for me to return our rental car and get back to catch the train. I asked a taxi driver to lead me there and bring me back. He broke all kinds of speed limits and didn't even start the meter until I got in the cab.
The guy on the platform in Williamsburg who helped us put our bags on the train and the guy on the train who put our bags on the platform in Baltimore.
The conductors who went through the train telling everyone else that they couldn't have bags on the seat next to them because it was a crowded train, who somehow never got around to telling me the same thing.
The woman who made eye contact with me when I was comforting and cleaning up a recently-sick Colin, and smiled at us. Not, obviously, because there was anything cheerful about our situation, but because she wanted to send a message of sympathy and acceptance. That helped a lot.
It makes a difference. It really does. If you've ever done a small kind thing for someone in distress, allow me to thank you and tell you how much it mattered. The kindness of strangers is an awesome thing.
Colin threw up once on the train and once on the sidewalk in Baltimore. In between he lay limp and floppy on my lap, barely speaking or moving. He asked several times for food. I hate when they're too young to understand why they have to be deprived. At least I could nurse him, and did. He seems to be keeping it mostly down, although not entirely.
Michael and Alex were awesome. But so were a bunch of other people:
The taxi driver at the Williamsburg train station. We were running late this morning, for tolerably obvious reasons. We got our stuff unloaded at the station with about 20 minutes left for me to return our rental car and get back to catch the train. I asked a taxi driver to lead me there and bring me back. He broke all kinds of speed limits and didn't even start the meter until I got in the cab.
The guy on the platform in Williamsburg who helped us put our bags on the train and the guy on the train who put our bags on the platform in Baltimore.
The conductors who went through the train telling everyone else that they couldn't have bags on the seat next to them because it was a crowded train, who somehow never got around to telling me the same thing.
The woman who made eye contact with me when I was comforting and cleaning up a recently-sick Colin, and smiled at us. Not, obviously, because there was anything cheerful about our situation, but because she wanted to send a message of sympathy and acceptance. That helped a lot.
It makes a difference. It really does. If you've ever done a small kind thing for someone in distress, allow me to thank you and tell you how much it mattered. The kindness of strangers is an awesome thing.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 09:35 pm (UTC)We've all been there, and it does help to remember that the majority of the people around will be sympathetic to a struggling parent or a crying child instead of impatient with them.
Let's hear it for ordinary acts of kindness.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 11:14 pm (UTC)