The Kindness of Strangers

This blog is inspired by the odd combination of two free circus tickets and a pending plane flight, the timing of which both of course coincide.

One of the most interesting lessons the Dancing Queen has taught me is about the kindness of strangers.  At one point in time I used to get more than mildly annoyed at society's incessant need to judge my apparent lack of parenting skills when dealing with a meltdown in the public arena.  In more than one instance, I was flabbergasted by complete strangers who felt the need to pass comment while I was dealing with an over distraught child in melt down mode after suffering a sensory overload burnout. 

On the plus side however, she has opened the door to allow the entry of guardian angels in many different disguises and human forms.  Having reduced me to a quivering, shaking bowl of jelly on more occasions than I would care to remember, I was suddenly struck by the fact that the public meltdowns were also a poignant reminder about the warmer, softer side of mankind.  Had I not been put at the mercy of other complete strangers who would silently come to my aid unasked for, I would have forgotten about the kinder side of mankind and possibly (and sadly) gone into full shutdown mode to protect myself from the judgemental strangers.

Why this is pertinent at this precise point in time is that I am about to fly with the Dancing Queen and her elder sister.  Once a upon a time just the mere thought of that would have reduced me to that jelly bowl again - previous scenarios have included a 3 year old version of the Dancing Queen making a mad dash off a busy plane at full speed, safe in the knowledge that I am at least 20 metres behind, struggling with the bags, my laptop and a sibling either asleep or covered in vomit.  In those instances, again the silent kind strangers have stepped in to help but I must admit I was always slightly confused as to what to hand over - the bags with the passports or my other child so I could make a similar frantic dash to find my child in a busy airport or to let a stranger capture the AWOL child.   As an aside, at least these days the captain won't refuse us entry onto the plane, because the Dancing Queen will keep her shoes on until we at least get on it - apparently airline regulations forbid bare footed children tippy toeing down the aisles.

So fingers crossed, Wednesday’s flight will be delightfully boring with no major mishaps.  Though I have yet to tell the Dancing Queen she actually has free tickets to the opening night of the local circus.  Again one of those instances where she flashed her dazzling smile and managed to score two circus tickets with her ice cream cone from a complete stranger, as only she would!