an angel of encouragement

I encountered an angel last evening. Aren't angels sent from God to encourage us? If so, then it was an angel. We were headed down to Sam's Club and a few other stores and needed to get dinner ahead of time. We had decided to go to a mexican restaurant on what is called "The Miracle Mile". (No clue why it's called that. It doesn't appear very miraculous to me.) Anyway, at the last minute we remembered a restaurant that we hadn't been to in a long time called Bernie Murray's. (If that restaurant was on the Miracle Mile, this story would be a bit more interesting, but it's not.) They have some great wings and a fabulous Antipasto salad.

We tried to enjoy our meal while helping the girls eat and trying to keep their sounds to a dull roar. It's always stressful, as any mom would know, to keep their children controlled in a restaurant that is not child-specific. Between Catie asking to get down when she is done eating (which we do NOT allow), to Lydia refusing to use words to ask for ANYTHING, to Miriam needing to occupied and dropping her toys every few seconds it's difficult to keep that sound down. I fear we interrupt the meals of those around us more often than I would like.

Toward the end of our meal a couple who had been eating at a nearby table got up to leave. As they walked past our table the husband spoke to us and said that our children were very well behaved. The wife commented that they are always a bit scared when they enter a restaurant and see small children, but ours were very good. This compliment was punctuated by the fact that we were there before them. I thanked them for telling us.

It meant a lot to me in light of the week I've had.

Then after James came back from taking the girls to the restroom to wash their hands another gentleman spoke to him and said he is a good father.

Angels. All of them.

If you want to be an angel, make a point of complimenting someone on the behavior of their children. It will make their day.