Being a good samaritan

Though life has been more busy than usual lately (or I'm just not doing as well at multi-tasking!) there are tiny moments in each day that cause me to remember the greater things in this life - here is one from the past week:

1) Last Wednesday my students and I were supposed to go to Texhoma Christian Care Center to play BINGO with the residents. Well, Dail ended up getting sick, so I had to take my boys, which was a virtue because I only had 2 students come, and we needed more people! So, we get there and Luke right away comments about how come it smells, and he does not want to sit by someone he doesn't know. Aidan, on the other hand, sees not a room that has a funny smell full of old, sometimes sickly people but a room full of beautiful new people he hasn't met. He has no reservation or apprehension at all! We start calling out the BINGO numbers, and he walks and walks around, people watching. There is a man who isn't terribly elderly, but must have suffered several strokes, as he cannot talk, or move most of his body. His whole body shakes when he tries to smile or do anything, much like a tiny baby learning to move, as opposed to an older body who once could and now cannot. Aidan walks up to him and smiles a big smile. The man shakes and drools, but his eyes dance back at Aidan. Aidan turns to me and says "Mommy, I don't think he can talk." Then he walks over to a bag of candy conversation hearts I had brought, takes one out, and walks back to the man. He puts the heart down on the table, and with his tiny finger, pushes it towards the man's hand. Again the man convulses with happiness, and Aidan just patiently stands by him and smiles. Finally, Aidan says "there you go!" and off he goes to another resident. The next man who catches Aidan's eye is sitting with his eyes closed, though obviously not asleep. Aidan walks right up to him and yells "Mommy, I don't think this man can see!" Embarrassed, I go over to Aidan and say "Honey, he is resting his eyes, now come with me." But, Aidan, ever persistent, waits and then says to the man "Are you blind?" Now I am red with embarrassment, but the man smiles a big smile and says "Yes I am." Aidan then says boldy to him, "Then I will pray for you." This brings an even bigger smile to the man's face. He thanks Aidan, and then they introduce themselves to each other, each stating their name and how to spell it. Then Aidan is off to the conversation heart bag. He brings a candy heart back to "John", his "blind friend", and carefully lays it down on the table. Then, he pushes it gently until the edge of the heart touches John's hand. John feels the candy, and pops it into his mouth, which produces a hearty laugh by both he and Aidan. The rest of the evening, Aidan went from table to table, delivering candy conversation hearts and warm smiles to each person there. Elderly women hugged his neck, and elderly men patted his back. To each he gave a warm, non judgemental smile, and I swear I was watching Jesus right in front of me! When our BINGO came to a close, both of my boys were so intrigued with John that they both wanted to help me get him back to his room. John uses a walker, and he makes his way quite well down the hall. I had to keep one hand on it, preventing a wall collision here there, and all the while he was chatting with my two sons. Luke was ever concerned that I was going to let him crash into something. We did have a minor incident with the TV in his room, but nothing fell over! We got him comfortably into his chair, and as we left, both of my boys told him Good Night and Happy Valentine's Day!

It reminds me of that song by Rob Thomas, "Little Wonders":

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
in these small hours,
these small hours still remain