Grateful

I am feeling the need to post this experience this morning.

As I was waiting at the bus stop for the bus to come pick up my kids for school this morning, something that doesn't usually happen, happened.  We were waiting.  My kids go to a school that has Kindergarten - 8th grade students.  I don't often see anyone get on the bus in the morning that is older than the 5th grade or so.  As the bus pulled up and stopped and all the kids got on the bus, I noticed a mother walking as quickly as she could up the street towards the bus.  She was wearing black pants sticking out the bottom of a pink and fuzzy bath robe.  It's very warm when the kids come to the bus, and we all had t-shirts on and were comfortable.  So, it was pretty obvious to me that she had gotten out the door in a big rush.  She was holding what looked to me like a water bottle.  As she neared the bus, one student - a girl looking to be around 8 - hopped off the bus and ran up to her, grabbed the water bottle, and ran to the bus and jumped back on.  The bus drove away and the mother turned around and began walking home.  As I drove home, I got a closer look at the mother.  She had no shoes on whatsoever and was completely bare foot.  There are lots of pokey weeds and all kinds of things on the ground that would be very painful to walk on around where I live.  I could tell that it was painful for her to walk on the rocks because of the way she was walking down the road.  She was trying to hurry, but couldn't go faster without it being painful for her feet.

This experience touched me.  I sat down, after observing this scene, and thought about what I have; what I'm grateful for.  My mother would have done the same for any of us, any time.  And I know countless numbers of mothers out there who sacrifice, maybe not just like this, but very similarly, for their children every day.  And not just mothers.  Fathers deserve the very same credit.  They sacrifice similarly in their own ways.

I'm so very grateful for my children.  I'm so very grateful for my husband, who sacrifices so much to provide for our family.  Our family is so richly blessed because of the sacrifices people make for us.  This mother probably has no idea that anyone was even watching, and probably feeling pretty embarrassed if she knew someone was watching as closely as I was.  But to me, what I saw today was one of the neatest things we could ever have.  What I saw was true integrity.  What I saw today wasn't anything short of one mother's true love for her daughter.  I'm blessed to have grown up with that kind of love in our home, and I hope that I am providing that kind of home for my children.