Happy Mother's Day
Or should I say Happy Father’s Day, because what other wish could a dad have than a great mother for his children?
My wife took our two boys to Big Stacy park today (distinguishing it from Little Stacy Park just to the north, pronounced “Yittle Stacy”, and from “Tiny Stacy Park” which exists, as far as I can tell, only in their two-and-a-half year old imaginations).
After some time on the swings and ladders and slides, the three of them took the trail and rounded the bridge down from the playground, and the boys wanted to stop, as usual, to play on the rocks near the stream. A few yards away, collapsed in a heap on the ground, was an apparently homeless man. A sleeping homeless man; completely motionless, maybe a dead homeless man?
Surely, my wife thought to herself, if he’s dead someone would have noticed and called the police by now. But, maybe that’s what everyone else thought…
She watched him out of the corner of her eye for 15 minutes as the boys threw pebbles in the water, and climbed the rocks. The slightly noticeable movement from his belly appeared to indicate breathing. Eventually he arose, crawling slowly on all fours up the hill and towards… nowhere.
“Do you need some water?” she asked. He stared at her blankly, perhaps unable to understand what she was saying. “Water? Are you thirsty?” Did that head movement on his part mean yes? “Would you like some food?”
When she got home, she told me they had gone to McDonald’s for a value meal: burger, fries and a drink. After packing the boys in the car, and while headed a few blocks away to the Golden Arches, she let them know they were going to the drive-thru for the man in the park, not for anything – or anyone - else. One of the boys cleverly suggested that he might want ice cream, but she didn’t fall for it.
Just now, before getting into bed, she asked me whether she should have called 311, or even 911. Would it have been the right thing to do? I told her I thought the police would simply have found a reason to arrest him… did he seem to have been drinking? She had no doubt. Well, then the cops would have taken him to jail. If they “couldn’t” arrest him for public intoxication, then they would have felt compelled to find something.
I asked if she was scared or nervous at all. She’s a big fan of Forensic Files and Dateline NBC-type horror stories and the like. Naaaah. “I thought about it, but if worst came to worst, I figured I could take him. My only concern was what the boys might experience, but he seemed harmless.”
Seriously, what more could I wish for in the mother of my children? Someone who shows them that it’s OK to help someone in need. They won’t remember this, any more than I remember being two. But she’ll be their mother forever.
Happy Mother’s Day. And thanks for raising my children.
