We were returning from a family vacation and were hungry so we decided to stop at Perkins. It was an easy on, easy off for the two road warriors plus une petite bebe.
We sat at a table like every other table. Our server was sweet and efficient. We entertained our daughter with crayons and cheerios. She, then officially one year old, entertained us by throwing everything within her reach.
She smiled at an elderly gentleman and he smiled back. His energy was kind and gentle. He played peek-a-boo with her from his table. She giggled and giggled and kept looked over her shoulder at him.
I was worried our daughter would annoy him as she kept smiling and pointing. He was enjoying dinner with his misses. Well, I assume it was his wife as they had an easy cadence about them. The kind you can only get after 50 some years of daily life together.
Each and every time I snuck a peak in his direction, he was smiling and playing peek-a-boo with her. She was thoroughly enjoying herself and it appeared he honestly was, too.
As our meal ended and theirs continued, I was struck with a thought that we needed to buy their meal. This is not uncommon for my husband and I as we often practice random acts of kindness like this. I said to my husband, “I think we should buy their meal.” His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly and he stammered, “I, I was having the exact same thought! But I was wondering if we should just buy their drinks or do the whole meal with tip.” I said, “If we both had the same thought at almost the exact same time, there must be a reason. No coincidences, right? Let’s buy their meal.”
We quietly told our server what we wanted to do. She looked surprised and then broke into a smile and said, “That is SO sweet. How nice of you!” We paid for our meal and for theirs and left the restaurant feeling really, really good. There’s something about secretly doing something nice for someone that makes you just feel good, you know? It’s also nice to wonder how good the recipients of your random act will feel and if they’ll pay it forward.
About five miles down the road, out of the blue, I was struck by a thought that our daughter orchestrated the whole, “you should buy them their meal” business. Nahhhh, the logical side of me said, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t have told us both to buy their meal. Could she?! How could she do that?! She’s just a year old (tsk, tsk, Melissa…like chronological age has anything to do with anything except on the physical plane). As I thought about it, it was the only thing that COULD have happened. It was the only thing that made sense. And I’m pretty sure my earlier ‘thought’ was really an intuitive ‘hit.’
My eyes widened, my hand went to my mouth and I said with wonderment, “I think love bug did that! Back there at the restaurant. I think she told us to buy grandpa and grandma their meal. Think about it. We both had the same thought at almost the exact same time and she was having so much fun with grandpa. It HAS to be her.” He was quiet for a few seconds and then he said, “Yep. I agree.”
Almost immediately, his voice broke into a smile and he said, “What are we going to do with her when she’s a teenager? Is she going to telepathically tell us that she wants a pony and you and I are going to be powerless to stop her? Or what if she telepathically tells us to forget about her curfew? What then!?”
He was joking, of course, because mind-control is not part of telepathy, unless you’re in an X-Men movie. But really, what do I know? I was just schooled by a sweet little, unassuming one year old that hadn’t even uttered her first intelligible word.