SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

SWEETEST KID IN AMERICA says (me!) sandra, tvgp

so i was at the tri valley haven booth on saturday at the st patrick's day festival in dublin,

only.. it wasn't really the tri valley haven booth. rather, i discovered after looking around for 1 hour shy of eternity, that it was the dublin housing program booth

but not that either really

because what they did was combine 5-7 different social service/non-profit organizations inside one 10x10 area.

this allowed me to meet 5 very wonderful women, and learn more about several different social service programs, so i ended up grateful for the mislabled, but inherently gracious set-up.

i passed out i don't know how many fliers for the "great performance coming up at the bankhead theatre! -have you seen it... heard of it? the vagina monologues? oh, i hope you get a chance to see it... it is hilarious and wonderful"

and after about an hour and half of that, i needed some fuel, and so headed over to the food booth area. -and great walk over, because the festival was packed! the day was gorgeous! and there was such a great parade of children, families, friends, many dressed in various levels of st patrick attire, from a simple 4 leaf clover pin, to wild, giant green hats, mardi gras beads, green tie-dye shirts, with green polka-dot shorts, green socks... carrying green beer: you get the picture

all of it wonderful, but none of it comparing to the highlight of my day which was meeting who i can only describe as: the sweetest kid in america


if time, law and circumstance allowed, i would have adopted him on the spot, brought him home and we'd be too busy talking write now for me to even blog this

because first thing you must know, is that this young, handsome, 11 year old boy, had conversation skills superior to almost any adult male i've ever communicated with

he initiated what would be our 30-40 minute conversation by coming over to me and telling me that i reminded him of his aunt diane

"yeah.." i smiled, "well, i am an auntie.. my niece and nephew are here write now," i told him, "i love being an aunt... and my nephew is about your age. he's ten years old... are you about ten?"

and that's when he told me he was 11, and then took a seat on the grass near me in my backpack chair. he was finishing up a snowcone, and so asked me, "do you have a favorite flavor snow-cone?"

and i told him i liked coke flavor when it came to slurpies or slushies, but when it came to snow-cones, i liked to get rainbow flavor, "do you like to mix your flavors?" i asked him

and we communicated like this about so many topics... him asking a question, listening so politely to my answer, and then him sharing his thoughts and experiences, and then asking a new question

"do you have any fears?" he asked me

"oh! yes... i'm very scared of spiders and creepy crawly things.."

"you have a fear of bugs..."

"yes!"

and then he told me about the time he saw a wolf spider and used a great big thick book -bigger than the bible- to squish that spider, and then put more stuff on top of the thick book

and told me about how he was afraid of puppets for a while, but had a dream where someone showed him that puppets were nothing to be afraid of, and he woke up cured

and as we were talking, he was sippin' his melted snow-cone, and i was finishing up my 10" hot dog

and he would spill his melted snow-cone every now and then, tryin' to balance a comfortable sitting position on the grass and use the pole to lean against

and then he set everything down, and came over to me and reached in my left hand, "i'll take this to the trash for you" he said, and took the crumpled, balled up foil from my finished hot dog and walked it to the trash can nearby

do you know i didn't even realize i crumpled up that foil and had it sitting in my hand until he opened up my hand and pulled it out. it was so auto-pilot; unconscious, during our conversation

-such a thoughtful gesture! "thank you! josh"

and then we picked up talkin' write where we left off...

he told me about his visit to yellowstone, and i told him about my brother living in montana, driving distance from yellowstone

and we talked about school, and bullies, and the bible...

and then my cell phone buzzed, and i had to text respond -only the sun was makin' it difficult for me to see what i was tryin to type

next thing i know, josh is standing write next to me using his two hands to block the sun so i could see better

"thank you! josh... that is so helpful!"

and after i finished my task, and he took his seat again, i said

"josh... do you have great parents? know God, or belong to the boyscouts or something? -because you are so kind and thoughtful..."


and you don't even have to guess how graciously he responded... just smiling and moving on in our conversation. if i wasn't smilin', i was laughin.. listening, talking, talking, listening, and all the while whispering to Jesus a thank you for introducing me to this sweet, wonderful child, and tellin' him to feel free to populate the planet with more like him

just such a treat in every way.


it turns out that he was the grandchild of a woman in a booth just down from the one i was in... something to do with motorcycles. she was lovely too. confirmed, that just as josh said, i did remind her too, -and her husband -of josh's aunt diane.

and i couldn't resist telling her what an amazing, thoughtful boy josh was.. how much i appreciated his kind gestures, and what a conversationalist!

and when my shift was up and it was time to go...

was kinda hard to leave without taking him with me.

-thank you josh! for your wonderful company and how much water/sunshine you poured on the seeds of hope inside me


****

and twice at the festival i felt God's creative choreography at work:

since my booth was not labeled, tri valley haven... how would my sister, niece and nephew find me? -really there was no way, except to cross paths directly with one another

and so exactly -exactly!- as i returned from the food booths, there they were... got in a quick visit and they were off to enjoy the rides

and again, on my way out to my truck

exactly, -exactly!- at the gate area which divides parking lot from festival entrance, there were my friends sue-sue and christine, with their great dane, harley

and now here's the thing:

no dogs allowed

so they were just on the brink of realizing they could not enter the festival with harley -even on leash, and so were just shy of turning around

and i was just finishing my shift/heading for home

how perfect, that we met when/how we did... so that we could go together to tully's downtown, where harley was welcome, and get a fantastic in-person visit in, on such a beautiful day

these things are not lost on me, i tell ya...

i know God is behind the scenes... or should i say, above.

so TBTG! for saturday, march 13th, 2010 (see! my lucky numbers....)

posted by SHE @ 8:57 AM