I’m writing this post on the note application on my phone because I have so many words in my head and heart I have to get it out. We are on a mission today. It is important. It is a last minute trip that I felt couldn’t wait. My five year old and I are traveling to visit my grandma several states away, and as parenting goes…she got motion sick on our first flight. She projectile vomited about thirty minutes after we landed while we were on our way to our next gate. The elevator doors opened and people on the other side of the door watched in horror and quickly stepped back. There was no garbage or anything so I let her just puke on the floor over and over again. I had to stop and change her clothes in the middle of the hallway in front of everyone. I used baby wipes that I had with me to wipe her down. I then schlepped my very heavy carry on, my heavy purse, her back pack, and the car seat to our gate with her weak sick little self walking next to me. The next gate was down and elevator, through a long, long hall, and up the escalator. A shoe shine man gave us his last bag for her soiled clothing and her next incident if need be. We arrived at an airport help station and asked for more bags, and were able to get two more so the clothes could be wrapped up and tucked into an overflowing bag. When we arrived at the gate after about a twenty minute walk, the airlines had changed the gate to…wait for it…the gate right next to the one we just got off. The airline attendant was of no help, and she could have cared less how sick my little one was. My daughter, sick again, got cleaned back up and committed to the journey back. It took three sit down to rest stops to get to where we started. We were both exhausted and wondering at that point if we were going to be stuck in a city we had no need to be in. When we finally got to our gate, a full hour or more after we had originally left it, she collapsed in a chair and fell asleep. So there I was sitting on the floor wondering- do I ask a stranger to watch my kid so I can buy her Dramamine and water or do I wake her up and haul our crap across the way again? Both options sucked, so I decided to do nothing. I sent out messages asking for prayer, and texted my husband to tell him they might not let us on the plane. I tried to call him and talk but she got sick so I had to get off the phone. She threw up again and the lady across from me said, “Can I help you? Can I go get you something?” I swear to God I want her as my best friend. She was so motherly and kind. She bought Dramamine and found ginger ale. She went and got me a coffee and refused to buy one for herself with my money. When our plane came in she arranged for my girl and I to load the plane first. She carried the puked on back pack onto the plane so I could help my sick baby and carry our bags. I asked for her business card because she was traveling for work. She said it wasn’t necessary. And I am sitting here in the very back of the plane, with daughter’s puked on stinky feet across my lap, thinking- “I don’t even know your name!” I know she has two sons. The youngest just graduated from high school and they went on a cruise. That’s all I know. Or is it?

I know that she took one look at my sick girl and her exhausted mama and she was inclined to help. I know she has a kind and giving heart. I know she was the hands and feet of Jesus for me today. I know I will never forget her kindness. Dozens of people walked past us today, and likely didn’t even see us. They didn’t see a mom struggling to carry what felt like the weight of the world while feeling awful for making her sick baby walk. How often do I walk past someone struggling with their burdens and not see them? See them for who they really are and what they are going through? And really- when do I have the time in my own chaotic life of working and raising kids to slow down to notice?

Lord, Help me to notice…help me to shut out the crazy things in this life just enough to pay attention to what is going on around me…