On Thursday I picked up the kids from daycare and thought that I would take my kids to the Midway. (I only learned it was called that on Thursday! I would have just called it the fair, you know the one…the traveling carnival with the sketchy rides, cotton candy, lights and games, I don’t think that it’s just a local thing…) I was feeling tired, and sick and wanted to make up for it by doing something fun with the kids. If we went home I knew we’d end up eating grilled cheese and watching a show, and I wasn’t feeling that either.
Backing it up a minute. My beautiful Addy girl has shown evidence of being scared of heights, and though some healthy fear is a good thing, we want to encourage our monkeys to challenge their fears; hold spiders; eat new foods; go talk to the older kids at the playground…and in this case, riding the ferris wheel.
So I talked it up, how cool it would to be to be up high and see everything look small. I did mention that I wasn’t sure if they would be tall enough or what the rules were, so we would have to see. But when we pulled up and they saw the rides, there was no holding in their excitement.
Screeches
I’M SO EXCITED
This is so exciting
And then we couldn’t get in.
The only way to get to the Midway was to go THROUGH the Maritime Fall Fair
And the only way to get through the Maritime Fall Fair was to pay for entrance. NBD
Except…. They only took cash. I only had $18 and my debit card was sitting on my desk at home. If I paid the $13 to get into the fair, I knew that I wouldn’t have enough to ride the ferris wheel (and it turns out I was right! It was $18 just to ride the ferris wheel!!!!!) so that would have pretty much defeated the purpose. I told them I didn’t think that seemed fair because most times the Midway is accessible to the public…and the lady understood, but it wasn’t her rule, which I also understood.
I told the kids. And they didn’t understand. So I knelt down and explained.
They didn’t throw fits, or say “but mommmmmm”
But they did start to cry.
Not a “I think if I cry I’ll get my way” kind of cry. But a simply, I am so sad and disappointed kind of cry. Honestly I can understand why some parents just want to give their children everything. And I also understand why they cried. I can remember crying a few years ago when I found my first sand dollar and then dropping it and breaking it just a few minutes later. Disappointment is real regardless of its impact on a global scale. Watching tears roll down Addy’s face, and picking up Finn, I didn’t tell them to stop crying. I told them I understood that they were sad, but that crying wouldn’t change how much money we had, and I was sorry that we couldn’t go on the Ferris Wheel.
A couple of ladies who worked at the Exhibition Centre had stepped outside along with a chef on a break and asked Addy why she was crying.
Addy told her through sobs, that we didn’t have enough money to go on the rides. My pride kicked in quickly to tell them that we just didn’t have enough CASH on us and that they didn’t take credit cards, that we didn’t know that you had to go through the fair to go to the rides and that we’d just make a plan to come another time. They said that didn’t seem right and said we could go talk to someone, I assured them that we had talked to people already and it was ok, that the kiddos would be fine, but thanked them for their concern.
We continued to walk to the car when I heard a call behind us. It was one of the ladies asking me to come back. The other lady who was there had a guest pass for the fall fair that she would give to me and the kids would be free because of their ages. Addy & Finn looked confused and I explained that this lady giving us the special ticket meant that we could go inside to go to the fair and go on the Ferris Wheel! Addy started crying tears of happiness and hugged the lady with an overwhelming “thank you thank you thank you”. Finn, who was still in my arms, sang some sort of excited ditty and leaned in for a hug as well. We thanked them again and went towards the entrance with the kids shouting and skipping “we get to go to the faiiiirrrr”. Then everything was just over the top excitement. Smiley face stamps on their hands, going to the tippy top of the ferris wheel, seeing the lights, the petting zoo, running into my cousin Laura and her taking us to see her horse (and give the kids her prize ribbons! Seriously are people not great sometimes!!!)
We had a few moments where the kids didn’t understand why we couldn’t do everything, play everything or eat everything. To be honest part of that I think is from my frugal research, taking the kids to community events that have free games, Canada Day cake, etc. But I think they did pretty well overall at working on that life lesson.
When we were leaving I wanted to hit home how thankful we should be for a stranger being so kind to us, and that we should always want to do nice things for other people. I also wanted to make sure the kids knew that they didn’t get to go to the fair because they cried. And Addy said “no we got to go to the fair because the nice lady gave us her special ticket”.
I am only thinking of this now, but I wonder if this lesson is what prompted Addy to find toys and books and wrap them in tissue, make cards and put them all in plastic bags so she could give presents to everyone…. If it is I am pretty proud. Well either way I am pretty proud.
Both the kindness of a stranger and the generosity of my little girl have reminded me what a big impact doing something nice for someone can be.
Watch out for my random acts of kindness and thoughtful things. Well you won’t know because I am not going to toot my own horn, but I can tell you that a fire has been sparked in me again when it comes to giving!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends, and to the lady with the magic ticket: Thank you. You taught my kids a valuable lesson, created a wonderful experience, and reminded me how important it is to care about others and act in kindness.
Ciao for now friends. Be blessed and be a blessing!
