on the stranger who made me cry

we went to our favorite pizza place last night because, well, we needed to do something fun and i had no dinner plan. it had been an emotional and busy day, we sent my brother and his sweet family off to maine that morning where they are moving. the kids were sad about their cousins moving farther than a quick day trip away. the house was a bit of a wreck and i had lost my patience with the kids many times and generally felt like a failure of a mom. during dinner, the kids did pretty well, though they were not without wiggles, messes, and lots and lots of questions. sometimes i just feel like i need to apologize to all other restaurant patrons for the fact that my kids are kids and may be intruding on their quiet or space or worldview. so the older couple (precisely the type of people i feel like i need to apologize to because they have done their time as parents and surely kids were better behaved back then) sitting in the booth behind us stops at our table as they were leaving and says something to the effect of:

"about 30 years ago my wife and i were in a restaurant in Delaware struggling to eat our meal with our young daughter, feeling like failures with our daughter's behavior and as parents. an older couple told us as they were leaving that it had been a pleasure to sit next to us. and we wanted to tell you the same thing. because it has. it has been a pleasure to sit next to you. i hope you can pass this encouragement on to another young family when you are our age." 

with poise adam said "thank you" and i of course, burst into tears (i know you are shocked, right?). i just wanted to thank them for not viewing my children as noisy, messy inconveniences and also affirming the lurking lie all parents believe that they are a failure. we do fail. often. but by God's grace, we are not failures...he has equipped us with everything we need for life and Godliness. and that sweet couple was God's grace to me at the end of a stretching day.