More than Ducklings

Posted by Cape Ann Angel Little Cabbage on Help Others -- February 25, 2008

It was mid-summer and my father had taken me to boston to see the ducklings in the public gardens. we had spent most of the day just playing on the ducks, running around, anything an 8 year old would enjoy doing. More than anything I wanted to go on the swan boat in the pond where the little ducklings were lead to by their mother. The line was long, and it was a little after noon, I was hungry and hot and was starting to get a little cranky. The boat was coming back and the line finally started to move forward! I excitedly looked around, silently saying to all around me " I'm going to ride the swan boat!" I saw to my left, on the other side of the chain linked barrier, a mother pushing her baby in a carriage. The baby had thrown his bottle out of the carriage, and started to cry. The line kept moving to board the boat which had arrived at the dock, and there was just enough room for my dad and I to board. In that moment I ducked under the chain, grabbed the bottle and ran it to the mother. At this point, my father had stepped out of line to see where I was running to. The mother thanked me, and I walked back to my dad. He saw what I did and gave me a hug, then regretfully said that we had missed the boat and it would be a long wait for the next one. I looked at the boats, then the line, and finally at my dad with a big smile and suggested we get ice cream instead.
I learned that day that nothing feels better than doing something good for someone else. No matter how small or big it may be.