My Angel

I never thought that I would have called my two-year old son that screams “No, Mommy! NO!!” an angel, but today he actually was. Not for me, mind you, but for a 63-year old woman that really needed him to be one today. It was very special.

We had some errands to run today, so we were in town when it came to be lunchtime. Seeing as it was noon, I knew that everywhere would be busy, and knowing that I have a finicky eater with me, we opted to Run for the Border, because it seemed to be less crowded than other “fast food” places. Unfortunately, there were plenty of other people that had that same idea… along with a church group of high school kids away at camp.

So, while we waited for our food, my son decided to strike up a “conversation” with a woman sitting all by herself. She was waiting for her food, too, so they had a little something in common. She was so sweet, asking him all the right questions that he knew how to answer, all the while looking at me to make sure it was okay to talk to her. Then he did it. He climbed up into the booth opposite her and just sat there, talking to her all the while. I tried to get out of her way, but she told me that he was just fine where he was, and I saw a look in her eyes that I knew she meant it. When she got her food, he continued to sit there, talking about the taco that he was going to eat for lunch. When our food was ready a few minutes later, I told him that we needed to go and eat our food, and she looked at me and said, “Please, just sit here with me.” It was sweet. There were plenty of places available for us by now, as the high school group had finally left, and here she was offering us a place to sit and eat together. So we did.

They talked, we ate, and there weren’t any awkward moments of two strangers sharing a table or anything like that. I asked at one point whether she ate lunch alone often, and she told me that her husband had been gone for 12 years, and being alone wasn’t always what it was cracked up to be. She said that she was just thinking about how nice it was to have someone to share lunch with today. It almost made me cry.

The entire lunch, he behaved as if he had never thrown a fit in his life, and she told me how sweet he was, and precious he was, and how much I need to enjoy the time now, because while you’re young, you don’t think you’ll ever get old, but then one morning, you wake up, and you’re 63, wishing you were still 23.

When she stood up to leave, she told us her name, and I told her mine, seeing as she had already asked Little Man what his was at the beginning of our lunch. She thanked us for sharing lunch with her, and she was on her way. When she left, Little Man told her to have a good day, and upon prompting, said “Tank you shawing wunch!”

In the last two years, I have had more emotions than I have ever known possible with my little man. And today, he added a moment of pride. I’m so proud to say that my little man has been an angel for someone else today, too.