You know what I love about this time of year? The Hallmark Channel. I can sit for hours watching cheesy holiday movies.
They usually involve some small town charm and an act of kindness that probably wouldn’t ever happen in real life. Or maybe it would.
“Once upon a time, there was a boy who lost his glasses. Now, these weren’t just any glasses, but very expensive, and relatively new bifocal glasses that came with a large price tag as all bifocals do. The boy knew these glasses were special and necessary and that he needed to hold them dear. ‘On your face, or in your case,’ the boy’s mother would remind him often.
On this particular day, however, the boy misplaced his glasses without realizing it. When he went to put his glasses on three days later, they were nowhere to be found.
‘They are at school,’ he confidently told his mother. ‘No they’re not,’ said his sister indignantly. ‘Well, how do you know?’ the mother asked. ‘He was reading when he was in the car on the way to Canada last Friday,’ the sister said on Sunday evening.
‘Uh, she’s right,’ the boy stammered. The boy went on to explain that the last time he remembered having the glasses was when he, his two sisters and a friend stopped at a baseball field to take a break on their long drive to Canada to see relatives. He had taken them off and set them on top of his coat while they were taking pictures.
While the boy remained calm during all of this, the mother started issuing orders like a drill sergeant: ‘Search the car! Go through your bags! Search the car again! Call your cousins in Canada!’
When all of these things had been done and redone several times, the boy and his mother went to bed and slept fitfully. Where could the glasses be?
After the eyeglass-less boy went to school the next morning, the mother had an idea. She asked the sister, ‘Where was the park? Where were you when you were at the park?’
The mother then called the City Hall in Drayton, N.D., where the nicest young woman answered the phone and immediately took pity on what probably sounded like a deranged mother on the other end of the line.
‘My son may have left his glasses in your town baseball field on Friday, and I know this is a long shot, but did anyone turn them in over the weekend?’ asked the mother.
‘No, they didn’t,’ the nice woman replied, ‘but I’d be happy to go out and look for you later this morning.’ Even if the glasses were nowhere to be found, the simple fact that she had found someone so sweet and willing to assist renewed the mother’s faith in humanity. As the mother went about her errands that day, she kept telling people about the nice woman who offered to go and look for the boy’s glasses.
About three hours later, the mother’s cell phone rang. ‘Hi. I’m calling back from the Drayton City Hall. I have good news. As I was looking around the park for your son’s glasses, I ran across the banker from town eating lunch in the park. He helped me look, and he found the glasses in the middle of the baseball diamond. They must have sat there all weekend. They look like they’re in perfect condition. Can I mail them back to you?’ she asked.
The elated mother and her son can now be seen camping by the mailbox waiting for a very important and much anticipated priority-mail box to be delivered.”
What a delightful story of kindness! If only the nice City Hall lady and the banker eating lunch would have fallen in love… I’m certain Hallmark would have come calling.
Please continue to share your stories of kindness with me at info@nicolejphillips.com. Or send a letter to Kindness is Contagious c/o Nicole J. Phillips, The Forum, 101 5th St. N., Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107.
Nicole J. Phillips is a former television anchor for Fox News in Fargo. She is a writer, speaker and mother of three kids. Nicole is married to Ohio University’s men’s head basketball coach Saul Phillips. Her column runs every Saturday. You can visit Nicole at nicolejphillips.com.
