Sometimes.
On Friday, Fran took K to Stratford for a day of Tudor history at Mary Arden’s farm.
Which meant I had a boys day with A. I asked what he wanted to do and offered climbing and some of our usual activities but he wanted to get back to his swimming lessons and just have a normal day.
Part of which was to get my Mum’s shopping in and do her lunch. At Asda, he found a little cash on the floor by the trolleys, as we walked in to the store, I put some change in the Myton Hospice ladies bucket and he did the same with his new found cash.
I told him he had done a good thing and that’s what makes the world a nice place.
After lunch, we had to pop to B&M to get my Mum some new tea towels. At the till, the older lady in front of us was paying for her stuff with cash but was going to have to break £10 for 80p. The till lady asked if she had anything smaller and she explained she didn’t like having lots of change in her purse because it was heavy. I handed over a £1 coin to make it easier for her, which she thanked me for.
As we were leaving she called A over and put a £10 note in his hand and told him that “Good things happen to good people”. He was obviously stunned and really grateful.
When we got in the car, he asked why the lady did that and we had a chat about being nice and that the lady must have appreciated us being kind and wanted to show that. I pointed out that not all nice things receive reward and being nice is its own reward. In true A fashion he then planned how many V-Bucks he could buy with his cash and what he could buy for his friend.
I doubt myself as a parent on a regular basis but that whole interaction gave me faith that amongst the social media onslaught of hatred and fear, there are good people in the world and we’re helping to create more.
Darren “Proud” Checkley
