Fine, Fine, Found

Micah was flying out of the library happy as only a 3-year-old can really be when, BAM! Full faceplant on the concrete, his forehead smacking hard. Like a lightning storm, I see it first and then, two beats later hear his this-hurts-so-bad-I'm-not-just-seeking-attention wail. I run and scoop him up and he caves into me before I can assess the damage.

Fast forward a few hours when Landon wants to read one of the new library books, and even though it's past his bedtime, I'm willing to consider it because, confession: I want to read it, too.

The only trouble is, our loaded bag of 20+ books is not here. At all. I don't need advanced math skills to figure out that I just left upwards of $400 worth of books in the middle of a sidewalk.

Sigh. You can picture what happened, right? Micah so rarely cries like that that when I heard it I must have dropped everything to get to him. Amid the blood from his mouth and forehead, and the swelling, and determining if we were at DefCon 5 or just a good dose of ice, and getting Vivi secured....well. I forgot all about the books.

The BOOKS! The books I specifically requested and didn't want sent back all over the district. The books that were mostly brand-new because I'm a picture book junkie and order the new ones when insomnia strikes. Books we would have been the first to read. And now, the first (and only) to pay for.

My head hurt just thinking about it. Micah's head hurt just thinking about it. He started crying; I started calling. I think Bill started praying. (probably for some patience for his scatterbrained wife)

And this is the happy ending we've all been hoping for: Iza (the dear, sweet, wonderful librarian who got my call) left her library (down a flight of stairs) and went outside looking all about for this bag of forgotten books-- and found them. Right by the book drop. Placed there, I can only imagine, by Mother Theresa's distant cousin who was visiting Colorado because she had a hankering for homemade honey. You can come back for them whenever you want, Iza graciously assured me. We'll have them waiting for you.

So is it a story about Life with Boys? Or I Love Librarians? Or Practice Random Acts of Kindness?

It's all those things. It's the reminder that even if it feels like we're getting a head smacking, there are still friends and colleagues, and even strangers, who will step alongside with very little fanfare and extend a bit of kindness. A bit of integrity. A bit of ice-no-questions-asked. A bit of help.  

And it all adds up to a great deal, indeed.