blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy

Calvin breaks a lot of things. He rips up the girls homework, piano books and books. He dumps out entire containers of milk, cereal, bread, or whatever he can lay his hands on. He rips up library books, breaks CD's and DVD's.  He has broken his glasses, dan's glasses, Dave's phone, pictures on the wall, cut holes in sheets and clothes. I could go on and on….  We have trouble keeping up with everything that he destroys and it would be an understatement to say that it is a financial burden.   It is also very embarrassing to try to explain to others what is going on. I don't think it's possible to even comprehend even if we did explain.  This week Calvin took a box of ritz crackers and smashed them up into crumbs and threw them all over my car.

Anyway, for some reason today as I was taping up a cover to a CD we rented from the library I was thinking to myself, "hmmm, I wonder what kind reaction I'll get when I return this."  Of course I'm always fine with just buying a new one but I can't really buy just a cover.  I was reminded of an event a few months ago and teared up thinking of this sweet lady in Alberstons.

I stopped at the store to get Calvin a snack. I can't remember the circumstances, but there's a good chance there is a back story…there always is.   Calvin likes the lunchables with a sandwich, called Lunchable uploaded- comes with a bun, meat, cheese, chips, drink and a Hershey kiss.  They are about $4-5.  When we got to the car Calvin opened the bun and it broke. Well, that was enough to cause a complete breakdown.  I decided it would be less suffering to give up $5 more dollars and get a new one rather than deal with upset Calvin so I ran back in to get one more. The checkout lady remembered me and asked if something was wrong with the first one. I told her no, my son accidentally broke the bun and then had a huge fit….so we needed a new one. She told me just to take the new one and that I didn't need to buy it again. But I explained that it was his fault, not a problem with the product and she still offered to give it to me and send me on my way, saying something along the lines of hope the day goes better. I am not a good story teller, but this small act really touched me. Most people are very turned off by Calvin's behavior and react with disgust or fear. It was sweet of this woman to be so sweet about it and have a little extra kindness for both of us. and without pity.  

I hope I can be more charitable with my feelings and actions to my own kids and others around me.

Just looked back and see that I already posted this story...oh well. Now it's here twice.