I was sent a video a while back. It’s one you may have seen as well. It’s a mother, crying in an airport, upset that her and her family were just asked to leave an airplane because their 2 year old wasn’t wearing their mask. It was disheartening, to say the least. What has this world come to that a 2 year old can’t say no to a silly mask or they’ll be asked to de-board an airplane?
We were scheduled to board our own airplane a few weeks after that video came out. Our middle son is 2 years old. I was concerned. Would this be our experience as well? Would our little guy decide he didn’t want to wear the mask and we’d be asked to get off the airplane? There were a couple of times, leading up to our trip that I questioned whether we wanted to risk the potential drama of traveling with littles during a time when the world has seemed to have lost it’s mind.
But we went anyway. We risked all the what if’s and we boarded the plane. And you know what? We had the best flying experience that we’ve ever had. We traveled with 3 littles, during a ‘pandemic’ and we enjoyed our entire traveling experience.
We met a lovely group of parents who were getting away for a weekend together to celebrate one of their birthdays. They all had older kiddos and loved getting to talk to us about our tiny crew. A young teacher sat next to myself and our baby on the plane and took turns holding him when he was tired and ready to be done traveling. She played peek-a-boo with him and made him laugh. She helped me strap him back in when it was time to land. A flight attendant made sure we had overhead space so that we could access our luggage easily during our flight. A former jockey gave the boys snacks as we landed, concerned that their ears might be hurting. And many complimented our kiddos on good behavior. Words that refreshed our hearts, knowing that kids are not usually what people are excited to see on an airplane.
Everywhere we turned there was proof that humanity still cares. That love, compassion and kind heartedness are still winning.
Will this story make the head lines? No. Will it be shared virally? no. Why? Because there’s no drama. No family getting kicked off a plane. No child getting harassed for not wearing a mask. No mother crying from frustration. There’s simply a family who went on a trip and who met kind, compassionate, caring humans all along the way. Will this story get shared? Probably not. But I wish it would. Because this is the story that we need to hear. That there are lovely people still in this world. People who smile. People who offer your kids snacks. People who do whatever they can to help you and your tired babe. There are still lovely people in this world and they still care for others. That’s the story that needs to be told.
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