Thank you, beautiful stranger. You taught me a valuable lesson.

This happened a couple of weeks ago but I feel the need to publicly say thank you to a woman I will probably never see again. I was at Hobby Lobby with Camilla trying to pick out some last minute Christmas decorations. I could literally spend hours and hours inside of that store and spend hundreds of dollars, but I digress. Anyway, I was talking to Camilla and asking her which decorations she liked and disliked. Yes, I know she can’t understand me but I like to think she can. If she smiles, then I take that as yes and put whatever I have in the cart (and that is how I spend too much money at Hobby Lobby). There were these two snotty teenagers who apparently had nothing better to do than smirk and laugh at the crazy lady talking to a baby. Personally, I could give two hoots about what they think of me and I kept on doing what I was doing. A few minutes went by and their snickering got a little louder and I heard them say “That chick is so stupid. Does she KNOW her baby can’t understand a damn word she’s saying?” I ignored them but a sweet, sweet lady standing at the end of the aisle couldn’t. She turned to them and said, “That chick, is a mother who obviously loves her daughter very much. That baby may not be able to understand what she is saying, but believe you me, she can feel the love that her mom has for her. Maybe if your mom had treated you that way, you wouldn’t be behaving the way you are right now. Maybe if more parents paid their babies the attention that this woman is showing hers, we wouldn’t have so many punks running around our streets.” Then she turned to me and said “What is your daughter’s name?” I said “Camilla.” Then she said to me, “Keep doing what you do. You are a beautiful mother and Camilla can sense every ounce of love you show to her. She may not understand it now, but one day she will.” She gave me a hug, rubbed Camilla’s cheek and walked away.

So I say “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” to that beautiful I woman I may never see again. I didn’t get a name and she didn’t even give me a chance to thank her in person. I was having kind of a crummy day that day, but she didn’t know that. She didn’t know that her comment and hug completely made my day. Sometimes I feel the need to speak up in situations like this and sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I think from now on, I will.