Now for the story. Lately I have not been on the receiving end of kindness around town. That never fails to surprise me. I have "please be nice to me, I'm on the verge of a meltdown" written all over my face when I am out in public with my kids. My 2 children combined in public are the equivalent of having 4. (OK, often times I am fairly in control. But who wants to be mean to a mom braving the world with 2 little ones trying to escape from a shopping cart?) Take yesterday: I loaded them all up in the double stroller, equipped with sippy cups, snacks, toys, and forced promises that they would behave at the passport office. I knew I had quite the wait to get my passport taken care of. It was the third time I had been back. The first time the lady was on break, the second time I forgot my birth certificate (admittedly my fault), and the third time I was ready to get this thing taken care of. Except that I didn't realize that "Bring a copy of your ID" meant "Bring a PHOTOCOPY of your ID." Maybe I was just an idiot, but that didn't seem very clear to me. The Passport Lady thought it was a great time to point out my idiocy to everyone in line, and suggest I take my two children over to the liquor store next door to make a copy. "I'm not taking my two kids into a liquor store. For a couple of reasons." Well that elicited quite a response from the Passport "Lady." Ahem. She called out some berrating comments about my personal competency, and then sent me off with "Good luck getting back here by 4!" I called something rather uneffective back at her (along the lines of "Don't worry about ever seeing me again...") as I made my swift exit. And by swift I mean crashing into the "automatic, but not for me" door with my double stroller, spilling Finn's new toy on the mat. "MY WHALE!!!!" Ugh. So I gave up on the passport thing yesterday. I tried again today. I went to a NEW passport agency a few miles farther up the 5. The man was SO kind and SO helpful. He had crinkly eyes when he smiled, and an accent. He said with a grin, "I'm only giving you 5 minutes and I'm kicking you out!" ?? "You should never have to wait more than 5 minutes to get your passport taken care of!" He complimented me on my organization and good handwriting. Then he told me, "Don't tell anyone that they'll never have to wait in line for a passport again if they come to me...or the secret will get out! Well, ok, you can tell only family and friends." It was a redeeming experience. Then I walked out of the passport office into the main area to see two young men—LDS Missionaries—smile over at me. (I'm a convert to the LDS faith, for those of you that don't know...but that's another post.) A nice little coincidence. It was a funny, warm feeling to have such a pleasant, easy experience this morning. I sent a text to Wes. He sent one back: Humanity.
When I recieved my order from Cassie, I was only expecting a cute passport case. What I wasn't expecting was the sweet custom monogram. Or her final choice of the owl fabric that happens to be so special to me. I have quite an affinity for owls because I call Maya my Little Owl—except I say it in Danish. I will be traveling without my Little Owl this summer. I think I felt a lump in my throat when I opened the package. Then she threw in all these other little lovelies that were a Thank You for my order. This is why I love the blogosphere (and Etsysphere, for that matter). Humanity. Now when my Passport arrives ("They say 4-6 weeks, but you tell me if it's not there in 3."), it will have a new, happy home! I hope you'll check out Tortoise and Hare Designs. It's a great little give-give kind of a place.
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Ah, so cute!
sweet shop. people that do the extra little bit is what makes buying handmade the best.
This story really made me smile. It does seem that right as you feel you cannot get any lower or feel any worse, you encounter someone who can change your mind and totally turn your day/attitude around. Wes had it right, "Humanity" it's difficult to remember at times, but we all have a bit of that in us, some more so than others. Thanks for the posting of this site; I will be ordering something from it soon.
Darling! I love the hair ties...
what a frustrating experience. it always drives me crazy when I encounter someone who is working in customer service... but has NONE. You know? Isn't there something wrong with that?
I love this post.
Oh Lyndsay, I know exactly what you mean! I get dirty looks all the time when I am out in public with my two munchkins. It is hard having two under the age of 5 {2 years and 3 months apart!}and it is even harder to keep them BOTH happy and contained.
Lately I feel like people look at
me like, "Well if you can't handle it, why do you have two?!". Well, BECAUSE. That's why. :-)
I hate being made the public example and luckily {I'm sure} for her because you are LDS, you didn't retort with some nasty comment filled with expletives.
Those are the kind of people that I envision giving a good smack or saying something witty and clever to but would never, ever do that to {because I am timid and shy when it really boils down to it and I just end up sobbing in the car}.
Thank goodness for good mail. And kind missionaries. I'm glad you had a little bit of sunshine after all of that fiasco.
And I don't know how anyone could be so horrid to you if they really saw you and your family. I mean, come on, all of you are adorable!
And one day I fully expect that Wes will be making movies and you'll be continuing your creative genious work while that lady is STILL sitting at the passport office being nasty and making examples of frazzled young mothers.
Sheesh.
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