The funny, the scary, the heartwarming!

The fall weather has, for the most part, been dismal here in Indiana. It's rained a lot and the cold snuck in way too early and came on way too strong. Admittedly, these things do NOT make me happy. I praise God in the midst of it anyway though, since abiding spritual joy (unlike the emotion of happiness), has NOTHING to do with what goes on outside of me. Rather, it abounds because of Jesus Christ, who lives IN me. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

So anyhoo, given the ugly weather, I knew there was a very real chance the kids would not get to trick-or-treat this year. I hoped for the best and kept watch via the long term forecast. It rained several days this past week, including on Friday. But thankfully, Saturday was partly sunny and no rain. Chilly, very chilly, but no rain.

After an early dinner, the kids' excitement grew to a moderate frenzy. I think we had to ask them to sit down and chill out a good ten times or more. Reece reminded me of a toy with a short in it, fritzing out in warp speed because he simply could not contain his enthusiasm. After several rounds of hair, makeup, and warm layers, the kids donned their costumes and were transformed. Olivia, a cowgirl. Cierah, "old man Jenkins" (an idea we got from a character on Spongebob). Reece, Spiderman. And Brandon, Thomas the train (isn't that what every 2yo boy wants to be?) I must say, they all looked terrific!

That said,
Cierah was initially less than thrilled about having to dress as old man Jenkins (you MUST click on the photo to get the gist of how cute she really was; can't see it well in the photo but we painted a gray mustache and eyebrows on her as well.) Thatw is, until she realized the attention and compliments her costume drew, then she beamed. And I have to say, she fooled more than one passerby who commented, "Your son's grandpa costume is adorable." People didn't realize a little girl was in there.
What a hoot!

So, everything was going pretty status quo (although candy distribution was noticeably down this year; the recession has now reached the pumpkin buckets of little children all across America, I suppose?) We decided to hit a couple streets we normally don't frequent, as the kids wanted their buckets to be "full like last year." Hey, you're only a kid once, so we figured what the heck!

Away we went.

And that's when it happened.

Now, let me just back up and say Carl had just commented not two minutes earlier that a few kids burned out his retinas with their high powered flashlights. But when our kids headed up a driveway behind those same kids with the mega-beams, we could not have known what would soon occur, even as the doorbell summoned the homeowner.

A shuffle of feet was heard. A slow creak.
And there stood a little elderly lady who very much reminded me of Grandma from Sylvester and Tweetie, only with darker hair. Well okay, that and a grumpier spirit perhaps. Fact is, the glare of one of the mega-beam flashlights caught her eyes, and reflected off her glasses, and....well,...probably acted as a magnifying glass because she suddenly scared the jeebies out of all the kids, angrily screeching, "That better not be a strobe light. Turn that thing OFF!" (I won't even share that I myself was scared to the point of near incontinence. TMI, to be sure.)

But it was too late. It just was.

The mega-beam (and perhaps her banschee cry) had knocked grandma off her game. Shifted her center of gravity. Rotated her universe if you well. I just didn't see her it coming.

Grandma fell out.

Literally.

Yes, that poor old woman fell out of her doorway and onto the outside step, candy flying everywhere. WHOA!
"Are you okay???" My Reece was quickly concerned, bending down to help her pick up the spilled goods. I was so concerned for her myself that it wasn't until long after the incident was over that I realized that something incredible had happened in that moment.
Reece had responded with compassion.
And maturity.
These things don't necessarily come easily to my little man. It's not that he is incompassionate. He is. But Reece has some special needs that make his reactions sometimes inappropriate, though not deliberately unkind. It was entirely possible that he would have "read" that incident as funny and then responded as such. Instead, he realized it was most serious and he wanted to know if the lady was okay. What a great moment to witness.

But he didn't stop there.

He also bent down and began to pick up the candy for her. This too was a mature gesture that Reece might not think to extend in such a circumstance. But he did. He did. And again, this was a big (BIG!) deal. I'm soooo grateful to God for our little man showing us how, in his time, he is learning to gain wise perspective on a situation and to extend compassion.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:31

Oh, and by the way? I'm listening to PANDORA as I type this. It's absolutely soothing. If you, like me, prefer NOT to miss your blessings, to see your glass as half full, then I will HIGHLY encourage you to head over to Pandora, go to the genre box half way down the center of the page, and select "holidays" and then "peaceful holidays." Then, sit back, a relaxing herbal tea in hand, and be soothed and ministered to by the gifted musicians whom you will experience. No, it's not too early for this Christmas music. Do yourself a huge favor and trust me on this one, would ya? ;)

Toni