This week, my kids had an overlapping choir dress rehearsal and baseball game and my husband was down with the flu. When an email arrived from another choir mom who was looking to carpool to the choir rehearsal I was thrilled to make the arrangements. Our girls would each have to wait a half an hour since their rehearsal times didn’t completely align but we both decided that was fine. With the arrangements finalized we met up so my daughter could ride to the rehearsal. Rather than drop my son off at home, I invited him to “drive along” for the quick pick up of the two girls to save some time after his game. We arrived at our appointed pick up time and proceeded to wait almost an hour since the rehearsal ran very long. I treated my kids to ice cream in appreciation for their patience when we were finally finished.

The next day, with the delayed rehearsal already a memory, I received a phone call from the other mom apologizing profusely that I’d had to wait so long to take her daughter home. She was sorry for any inconvenience I had experienced and really wanted to express her apologizes. She had no idea or control over what time the rehearsal ended or that it would go so long that evening. But she did know that I’d had to wait on her daughter’s behalf and she acknowledged that inconvenience. What a mensch (it means a good person). Others might not have placed that phone call at all. Even though she couldn’t control the situation she wanted to acknowledge her appreciation for my patience. That acknowledgement was meaningful and I was touched by the phone call.