Sunday, July 19, 2020

Turtles All the Way Down

A couple of Sundays ago, I took the girls on a bike ride while Brent and Trent were doing some work on my dad's land. The girls and I stopped at some neighbors' houses to say hi to their kids and visited for a little bit. I decided to take the longer way home so the girls could get more exercise. We barely made it a few houses down the street when both girls managed to fall off their bikes and start sobbing.

I was on my bike trying to console and calm down 2 crying girls while also thinking about how I was going to get us all back home. I decided I would ride my bike and have the girls walk, and we could get on the golf cart and drive down the street to pick up their bikes. Going the fast way home, it would only be about half a mile. 

An older neighbor {who we didn't know} was in her yard working in her flower beds. She saw we were struggling and offered to follow me in her car with the girls' bikes, but I said we could make it. {Why as mothers is it so hard to accept help from others?} Then she asked the girls if they'd like to see her pet turtle, which instantly dried up the tears.

She brought her turtle, Julip, outside and the girls loved getting to touch and hold her. Donna, the neighbor, told us all about Julip and her personality. Then she mentioned she had 2 dogs and the girls wanted to meet the dogs, so her husband brought both dogs outside. My girls were in HEAVEN. They have 2 teenage daughters, so they understood a little something about having 2 crying girls at the same time!

We sat in their yard for about 20 minutes. And it was just what our disaster of an adventure needed to make some very sad girls happy. It also worked out really well that Brent got home during this time and was able to come down in the golf cart and pick the girls and their bikes up!

It's nice to see and experience the bonds of motherhood. I didn't know Donna, but she knew a mother in need of some help. Her small act of kindness was a huge blessing to me and made 2 little sad girls very happy. I hope to be a Donna always.

Drew and Julip - look at that smile!

You wouldn't know they'd both been hysterical 10 minutes earlier!


4 comments:

Kathryn Bagley said...

It's nice to know that human decency still exists! and I can see you always being a donna :)

Anonymous said...

Love the kind neighbor! And y’all should get a turtle! Haha. - AP

Emily said...

Love happy stories like this. Reminds me of when Oliver & Aaron wiped out on their scooters at park and a couple of Middle school kids rode their bikes home and back to fetch us bandaids. Small gestures means lot

Natasha said...

That's so sweet that Donna brought out her turtle to cheer out the girls. And thank you for the reminder that a seemingly small gesture can be HUGE to the person who receives it.