I love this thread,
@hephephippo!
I didn't take your post as wanting recognition at all, more just as an encouragement and a reminder to be kind. Carry on with your stories/sightings!
A little background on this RAOK.....for the past 12 years, DH and I have been caring for our parents. All 4 of them, at different times, and as full-time caregivers for a parent with Alzheimer's, while also caring for and managing finances for a parent who is physically not able to perform daily tasks. I've often struggled with the idea that we were not spending enough time with our kids during their young years. I finally just had to make peace with the idea that while we may not have had much spare time and attention to give them, our kids saw firsthand that caring for family, the elderly, and the disabled was an act of selflessness and love. Our parents were needing care WAY before anyone else we knew (of friends in similar life stage), so we felt very alone in those years.
Recently, we were shopping at
Nordstrom. My 12yo son saw a car pull up, and an elderly man stopped to let out his wife. She had a walker, and a bag for a return. My son asked my permission to help, and rushed over to assist her out of the car, hold the door, and walk her return to the counter and help her through the process. My 2 girls stayed near the car, talking to her husband, and reassuring him that my son knew how to help a disabled senior with a walker. After my son had walked the woman back to her car, she and her husband tried to give him $50. He politely refused, and told them how we had cared for grandparents all these years. I started crying when he said, "I grew up watching my Mom and Dad care for Grandma and Grandpa, and Nana and Papa.
You shouldn't be thanking me for doing something that is normal. Have a nice day!" The woman told my son that he was going to make a great husband one day. My point is....I am so thankful that my kids somehow took home the important part of those 12 years....the love. Help on, my friends. You don't know who might model your behavior later.