Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Broken Hearted Boy, with a Broken Little Flag


Well here is an awkward story that happened to me. It ties in with my last post. It was a few years ago, but still makes me shake my head when reminiscing.

So we were at an amusement park with our three oldest boys, whom were 5, 8, and 10. The boys had received a miniature flag to carry around and wave. It was one of those small flags made with a small piece of wood, like the size of a skewer, with a tiny american symbol. Well after going on a few rides with clinched fists, and hanging on for dear life to safety bars, these flags were a little worse for wear. In fact, after our last ride the flags were falling apart. This made my 5 year old sad. He really liked it and wanted to take it home. However, I informed him while standing at the concession stand, that this flag just needed to be trashed at this point since the material was no longer attached to the wooden pole. As I was demonstrating this failure to stay assembled, this little old lady in a wheelchair behind us pipes up that we should come over to her.

Now this little lady was old and frail and had bandages on her arm. She wasn't well looking and my heart really went out to her. So the boys and I approached her wheel chair and said hello. We even asked how she was doing, and she began to tell us all about her afflictions. How we needed to be thankful to be young and healthy, and she remembered what it was like to be young back in the day. We smiled, nodded and consoled her. I was thinking how sweet this old lady was that she must be lonely and was needing some conversation. I was contemplating saying our goodbyes and walking away when she said she wanted to help the boys. I let her know that it wasnt necessary, that the boys were fine, but she insisted. She slowly raised one of her arms and reached for her opposite wrist that was bandaged with a large sterile pad and white medicine tape. I was thinking what in the world is she doing and what is under there that she is getting ready to unveil. I was feeling uncomfortable as we were painstakingly watching this slow methodical process, having no clue as to where this was going. I wanted to grab the boys and run away for fear that they may get their first sight of gaingreen or something horrific, however we all stood over her mezmerized by our curiosity. She took her hand and began to lift this somewhat dirty tape off of her thin skin. As she was tugging this tape upwards her skin was unwilling to relinquish it, but like a trooper, she was determined to get the better of it. The tape was slowly releasing, but leaving red irritated skin behind. My mind was all over the map with this. I could not for the life of me, figure out what in the world she was going to do with this tape that was once plastered to her body. After a few minutes of repeating this system, she dangled the pieces of tape in front of me. I said, "Ohhhh, thank you." She said, "No no, let me see the flag." Wide eyed, I obeyed and gave the item over to her. She began to take her pieces of dingy medical tape, that had lost most of its adhesiveness, and wrapped the tiny flag back to the wooden pole. It took sometime to make this tape stay in place, but when it was complete she grabbed Levi's hand and placed it there. Using his hand, she waved it in the air to prove it was as good as new. We all graciously thanked her, and told her how unnecessary that was, (No really unnecessary) and walked away. Levi looked at the flag with a whole new appreciation. I chuckled and relieved him of it by volunteering to put it in the trashcan. And amazingly he didn't shed a tear. Now that's one way to get a boy to stop crying....hehehe

6 comments:

Nicki said...

Yeah, that does sound a little gross. But, what a wonderful gesture this woman made toward your son. She saw his tears and thought that she could help. I wish more people were like that. Wanting to reach out and comfort others. Sweet story.

Beth said...

Trina...that is sweet, but kinda creepy too. It is hard to know what to do in those situations. That happen to us one time at KFC. We were sitting there eating when is old lady that was pretty rough looking comes up to us with a little snikers bar and tried to feed it to Luke. She was about to shove it in his mouth. So, I grabbed it and said "thank you" hoping she would leave. But then she just got mad at me and said "no no for the baby" So I said "ok he doesn't want it" and that made her even more made she started to shake her hand at him like she was going to hit him saying "why he not want it" and then she walked away. but not before tossing another candy bar on our table. We sat there for a second in shock. Then quickly got up and left, and of course threw away the snickers bars!!! It was the weirdest thing.

momto3blessings said...

I remember you telling about this when it happened. It was a very sweet gesture of that lady that she was so concerned to help Levi but it is gross too. lol

Trina said...

Nicki: Yeah, there was a sweet side and a disgusting side. I guess its all in how you look at it huh?

Beth: Yeah, that was weird and kind of scary. There is a reason God gave children parents.

Cheryl:That story just stuck with me.

MotherIsland: I completely know what you mean!

Nicki said...

LOL! Trina, the more I've thought about that story (it has popped up in mind a couple of times over the last 24 hours lol)the more gross it gets! LOL! Yeah, it was sweet but...ick.

Trina said...

Nicki: *chuckling*