Sometimes, she amazes me...

There's a Chicken Soup for the Soul story that tells of a little boy who helped an old man's grief at losing his wife by climbing into his lap, and letting him cry. Children feel things, and go with their hearts, for the most part, while we, adults, are still trying to figure out the right words.

This was made very clear yesterday by my own sweet girl.

I had asked a lady hanging up new items in a dept store for a price verifcation.  As she took the capris from me and walked to the post scanner, I noticed she had cerebral palsy, very pronouced.  I saw Malia watching her and kept my fingers crossed she would wait to ask about what she was seeing until we were well out of the woman's ear shot.

The lady tried several times to hold the barcode under the red light to get the price, but her hands kept betraying her.  I didn't know if I should offer help, but on about the 7th or 8th attempt, she asked if I could try.  As soon as we heard the beep and saw the price come up, she thanked me for being patient with her.  I was about to answer with something like, "thank you for coming to scan, rather than just telling me where it was", when my 4 year old spoke:

"You know. sometimes I try and try and I can't get it right, either", she said.

The lady smiled at her, whole body rocking.  Malia added, "I like your shirt, too. I like red."

The lady asked if it was her favourite colour.

"Yes", fibbed my daughter.

A few moments after we'd gone on our way, I said to Malia, "Red is your favourite colour, now, Mal?"

"No, Mama, I still like purple, but I said red b/c I didn't want that lady to be sad. That's okay, isn't it?"
*****
Yes, my darling, empathetic little lady, it's more than okay.