I'd like to thank the world

I'd like to thank the world. But mostly I'd like to thank my mom. She's the one that prayed dozens of kind people to my rescue. It started with the man at the counter who turned his head in the other direction when my suitcase weighed 2 lbs over the limit. Then there was a TSA officer who let me bypass a very long line at security. I'm sure he thought there was no way my already sobbing toddler and extra wiggly baby could handle a 30-minute wait. TSA officers aren't usually the friendly type, but there were three more who went out of their way to help me through the line. One helped me fold up and load the stroller onto the belt. Another set it back up for me on the other side. A third helped me gather all of my things together.

I've never been the recipient of so many reassuring smiles from perfect strangers. As I sat on the floor next to a clingy and weepy Johnny and began to put his shoes back on, three women walked by and smiled so warmly. They must have remembered what it was like to be in my shoes. One even said, "You make it look easy!" Bless her heart.

Then there was the lady at the gate who picked Tyler up off the ground, held him and made him giggle. Another woman opposite me on the plane held Tyler for a half an hour while I rocked Johnny to sleep. And can you believe that I didn't get so much as one crusty look or unkind word from a single passenger on the plane even though my children were crying for a combined 1.25 hours of the 2-hour flight?

There were so many people who helped without asking. The business man who lifted my stroller off the luggage rack and didn't leave until the kids were situated. The shuttle attendant who bumped me to the front of the line and helped me lift the kids and gear onto the shuttle. The man who stood at the door of the shuttle waiting for us, the last ones off, in order to grab the front of the stroller and guide us safely down. The security guard who kindly explained that the elevator was out of order but that he would help me down the escalator, no problem.

There were so many kind words too like, "I don't know how you do it." And "Your children are so beautiful." And "You are doing great." Of course, I heard lots of "you've got your hands full" too but I didn't even mind because it was usually followed by some kind gesture or another.

What these strangers didn't know was that Johnny had been up all night with croup, a fever, and a horrible cough. They didn't know that we had made an early morning visit to urgent care or that Johnny had missed his afternoon nap in order to catch the plane. And I'm quite certain they didn't know that they were the answer to my mother's prayers that someone would help her girl when she herself could not.

Have you ever felt the power of someone else's prayers? I definitely felt it on this day. So a big thank you to all of these people whose faces I still remember but whose names I will never know. Most importantly, thank you to you, Mom for your never-ending prayers and love.

And while I'm on the subject of my amazing mom, I thought I'd show off her incredible talent for doing wedding flowers. She did a wedding while I was home and I absolutely love the way these flowers turned out!