Part of their whole childhood now
Saturday October 31st 2015, 10:52 pm
Filed under: Family,Friends,Life

A four-year-old and her two-year-old brother: one single doorbell ring tonight. But oh so cute. Clearly coached to take just one, and they did, but then subversive me I told them to have some more and that little boy’s hand moved faster in response than his daddy could possibly say anything to. And then hey, you can’t penalize the older one for obeying the rules, so, to her, (remembering my late grandmother and her candy bowl), “Have some more.”

I’ve probably told this one before, but when our own were little, there was one Halloween where they all woke up with a stomach bug and that was that.

Our neighbor, then not yet a grandmother but hoping, had, it turned out, gone out and bought a gift for each of our kids: a delightful gingerbread-house-looking paper box with See’s chocolates and candies inside. We had the only small children on the block and she’d gone all out for them.

And then they didn’t come and it got later and they didn’t come and they still didn’t come. She’d so been looking forward to them ringing her doorbell and all of us being so surprised.

Finally, she walked over and rang *our* doorbell. And immediately on hearing the news cried, Oh, poor kids–to be sick on Halloween of all days! She was very sorry they couldn’t eat any of this yet, sorry they hadn’t gotten their chance to dress up silly.

But now after a bad day they had something to look forward to.

It hadn’t gone the way she’d planned, but the way it worked out, her generosity and empathy would never be forgotten.


3 Comments so far
Leave a comment

The circle of life… I love it! Too much generosity isn’t a thing, is it??

Comment by Channon 11.01.15 @ 7:55 am

Aw. Good story, Alison. Happy post-Halloween. (We survived!)

Comment by Andrea @ This Knitted Life 11.01.15 @ 7:59 am

One year I was being punished for being really bad at the doctor’s office…on Halloween. I had a choice between a smack on the rear or skipping Halloween. I chose to skip Halloween, which punished my folks and all the grown ups in the neighborhood. They also brought the sweets to me! Funny how that happens. 🙂

Comment by Joanne 11.02.15 @ 9:25 am



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)