Thursday, April 17, 2014

Touched by a Tiger

As we headed to the zoo this morning, Madigan helped me carry down the snack, bottles of milk and extra everything (we don't go anywhere without backup "all things important", these days). He mentioned his anticipation of devouring the full quart of cheerios, once we got to the zoo.

While waiting at a stoplight near the zoo, Madigan noticed an elderly lady holding a sign that simply read, "Hungry". She looked pale and very thin, so it was easy to believe that she was indeed destitute and in need of some nourishment. Madigan (who has never commented about other homeless people we've seen) said, "She looks hungry, Mommy. We should feed her." The light turned green and we proceeded to the zoo (my guilty conscience haunting me aggressively). When we saw how crowded the zoo was, we pulled a u-turn and returned in the direction we had come. Madigan asked if we were going back to "feed our new friend" and I told him, "yes". We pulled into the gas station next to where she was standing. Madigan unbuckled himself and grabbed that cheerio container he had been coveting as we left the house, 10 minutes earlier.

I rolled down the window and he waved for her to come over to our vehicle. She smiled and when he handed her the goodies, her eyes instantly filled with tears and she said, "thank you, baby". He smiled and said, "Oh! You're welcome!(with typical Tiger enthusiasm)". She looked through the window at me and said, "Bless you, Mommy". Yes, He has.

I reminded the boys about a conversation we had yesterday (following Paugie's 2-year-old fit about Daddy leaving for work that morning) about why Daddy goes to work, and how he provides for us to have food/clothing/a house, etc. Madigan's response: "She doesn't have a Daddy to provide for her. She's all alone". He and Paugie waved at her and were delighted to see her feasting upon the cheerios as we passed through the intersection to head home.

A couple minutes later, Madigan noted, "Mommy, I'm hungry. Maybe we should get another snack."


3 comments:

Gwendolyn1946 said...

I posted a much abbreviated versionof this story and received some wonderful responses. Like your version better:-)...but then, you were there!

kmac said...

And once again, my heart is melted into a puddle.

teona said...

Madigan is a precious soul!