It’s those rare, spontaneous moments that make a mother’s
heart swell and a toddler’s eyes light up. It’s those moments that a toddler
will talk about non-stop for weeks and a mom will never forget.
We had one of those moments on Monday.
We spent Memorial Day weekend at my in-laws’ lake house in a
small town near Yosemite. There’s not a lot to do in this out-of-the-way mountain
town, but Q and I were determined to find some adventure. (In other words, it
was my job to get Q out of the house so Hubs could pack up and get a little
work done on the house before we left.)
Q and I parked the car and set off on a walk through “downtown”
in search of the elusive ATM. We passed the fire station, and Q stopped dead in
his tracks.
“There’s a fire engine, Mommy!” He was beyond excited to see
a real life fire engine up close. We stopped to look for a moment, and just as
we started walking again, we heard a voice say, “Does he want to see the
engine?”
We turned around and saw a young fire fighter standing there
with a big grin on his face. “Yeah!” Q cried, and he took off toward the fire truck.
The fire fighter was so excited to show off the truck, and
he lifted Q into the driver’s seat. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces,
and I knew that the fire fighter must have been just as excited about fire
engines when he was a little boy.
(Which wasn't that long ago. Seriously, this kid couldn’t have been
a day over eighteen.) I think giving a little boy so much joy made his day just as much as sitting in a fire
engine made Q’s.
Seeing Q so happy almost made me cry, (but then again, I’m a
weepy preggo, so it doesn’t
take much these days).
When we got back to the house, Q couldn’t wait to tell Daddy
all about the fire engine, and he keeps asking me to show him the pictures I
took of him on my phone.
I wish I would’ve gotten the young man’s name, but I think I’ll
write a little thank you note and send it to the fire house anyway. I’ll
include a photo of Q in the truck and have him sign the card. Maybe they’ll
post it up on a bulletin board or something and the fire fighter will see it
and know how happy he made my son. And me.
