the Adventures of the Farrell Family of Four: compassion in unexpected places

This was the summer... memories flooded my mind... it was time for Josh and Jane to experience one of the places that my brothers and sisters and I LOVED to go when we were young... Lagoon! As an adult, I must admit that it doesn't have even close to the same appeal, but when we were little, we would count down the days and weeks until we got to go.

As we arrived at Lagoon, Joshua and Jane were amazed as they looked around and saw all of the colorful rides and heard all of the clinks and clanks of an amusement park. As we entered the park, the first thing we had to do to get to the ticket line was walk right under the rickety rackety, old, wooden roller coaster. People in the cars were screaming with delight as the cars plunged from the top of the roller coaster and sped right passed us. Within 30 seconds of entering the park, the kids were having a blast! They loved the thrill and excitement of all the kids rides, and Alan and I had a great time standing on the sidelines watching them laugh and have so much fun together.

When it came time to ride my personal favorite as a kid, the bumper cars, I explained to Josh and Jane that part of the fun of this ride was to bump and get bumped in the cars, so that there wouldn’t be any hurt feelings from a misunderstanding of the purpose of the ride. Alan and I watched as each of them carefully chose a car and then, surprisingly, waited patiently for all of the other kids to get in the other bumper cars.

The ride attendant, exercising great authority, walked around making sure all the kids were buckled in and issued commands telling the little ones "to stay in their cars and wait for the ride to begin!" While all this was going on, Joshua noticed a little Hispanic girl sitting in one of the cars across the way just crying. I also noticed her as I stood on the sidelines and waited for some mom or dad to jump the ropes and come to her rescue, but no one seemed to be aware of or concerned about her. Except for Josh. Not only did he notice her, he undid his seatbelt, got out of his bumper car and walked across the floor to see if she was okay. The ride attendant quickly yelled over to Josh that "he needed to get back in his bumper car right now!", but he stayed with the little girl to see what was wrong and found out that her seatbelt had been fastened in such a way that it was pinching the skin on her stomach. Joshua tried his best to undo the mechanical belt as the ride attendant was getting more and more frustrated at him for not going right back to his car. As the attendant marched over and got closer, with great courage Joshua never moved, looked up at her as she approached, and pointed to the little girl’s stomach explaining that the seatbelt was pinching her skin.

As the problem was resolved, I watched as our wonderful, little boy walked back to his bumper car, got in, as if he did nothing heroic, and got ready for the ride to begin. But what a hero he was in my eyes at that moment! I was so proud of him… his kind heart, his courage, his unwavering determination to make sure that this little girl received help. This is one of those times as a mother when you just feel so blessed to have this special little person in your life…I don’t think I will ever forget it. It speaks volumes about Joshua and his goodness.