The husband was smoking a cigarette while carrying their 9-month-old daughter, he was wearing sweatpants with a leather NASCAR jacket, he had a greasy black mullet and was missing some teeth. The woman was quite overweight, wasn't the cleanest thing I ever did see, and was bossing around their 6-year-old daughter.
The husband was clearly listening in on our conversations, several times interupting us and chiming in on whatever topic we were on. I tried to be polite, but he was pretty annoying. We found out that the 6-year-old's name is Maria, mainly because the woman was constantly shouting "SHUT UP MARIA". Maria certainly didn't need to shut up as far as we were concerned, as we never really heard her saying anything. We could only hear the mother's criticism...
At one point, Maria walked over to Toby and put her arms around him. It was kinda surprising, very sudden, and without any advance notice. Then Toby did something even more surprising: he leaned into Maria, putting his head on her chest, and he just stayed there. Toby's not the most shy baby by any means, but he very VERY rarely ever cuddles with US, let alone a complete stranger. Maria was ecstatic. This prompted an interesting philosophical discussion between Robyn and me on the way home, which I may or may not post sometime soon.
The only conclusion we could come up with for Toby's very surprising behavior is that Maria doesn't get many hugs, and that God wanted Maria to get a hug today.
4 comments:
Tell the "Tobe" that the Braun's need hugs too! Jeff's in the hospital and I wrecked my van!!!
Awesome display of God's love! Beautiful!!
Awwww! Kids are so humbling! It's got to be one of the best things about being a parent! I've learnt a lot about god through my kids acts of kindness.
~Blessings
Jeri
either that, or, God wanted Maria to feel what that largest one year old in history felt like.
just a thought.
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