On Christmas Eve, our cute little family got dolled up and headed to the mall for Santa pictures. My husband warned me that we would probably be in line forever, and we were. You hear that B?! YOU WERE RIGHT! After our two and a half hour wait to get the above picture done, I had promised E some play time at the mall's play area. It is actually my favorite mall to go to when we visit B's family because the play area is awesome.
As you can imagine, every other parent it seemed had bribed their kids to be good in the Santa line with getting to have play time as well. The place was PACKED! I got lucky finding a seat to watch E while she played. About two minutes later, an elderly woman came in and was obviously looking for somewhere to sit. I did the logical thing and stood up and gave her my seat while every other parent either tried not to make eye contact, or looked distractedly at their phone. Good deed #2. Simple and easy.
But I'mnsure you have heard that saving "what goes around comes around"? Well, this was three weeks after my ankle surgery and I was still in my waking boot and scooter when this all went down. Another mom saw this exchange and immediately stood up and gave me her seat. I tried to tell her it was not necessary, but she indicated my ankle and I did not want to deprive her of getting the chance to do a good deed herself. She sat on the floor next to me and wth her broken English, we had a very honest conversation about life and motherhood that I will never forget. She had come from Iraq and we were talking about the differences in family values there versus here. She told me about how all of her family and friends that still lived in Iraq had baby after baby until they had more than a handful of kids. She confided in me that she was glad she had come to America where that expectation would not have hit her so hard. She had one little boy and said she was definitely not ready for anymore yet because she struggled with post partem depression. It was interesting to talk to someone whose culture is so different, but yet motherhood can bring on the same concerns and frustrations.
What started out as my good deed to give up my seat to an elderly woman, turned into a good deed for someone else and really great conversation between a couple of moms.
