Last week, I took Alana to the blood lab at the local hospital for a bilirubin blood draw; apparently it’s pretty common in preterm/premature babies (David, who was born 6 weeks early, had the same issue). We walked out of the lab, and a woman chased us, saying there was an elderly woman who wanted to give us a quilted blanket she made.
When we’re young, we learn not to take any candy from strangers. There’s an inherent danger in the possibilities that those candies are poisoned or filled with razor blades or something of the sort. Our initial feelings of altruism have gone by the wayside, because we’re constantly looking over our shoulders, worried that some goodwill gesture that is really just “someone doing something nice” is actually a malicious attempt to hurt or harm ourselves or our children.
When we were offered the blanket, I’ll honestly say I hesitated. Initially, I had no idea if she was giving it to me or selling it to me! The woman said, “no! She really wants to give it to you.” What’s the catch? There is none–that can’t be a good thing! My babysitter Isabel and I shrugged our shoulders and ultimately accepted it.
The woman and her daughter, another woman, approached us after we were putting Alana in the car. The younger woman told me that her mother is 91 years old and she makes these blankets for newborns. They used to give them out in the maternity ward of the hospital, but they have since been told they are no longer allowed to go there. That’s why she was in the lobby giving us the blanket.
It’s actually a beautiful blanket (seen below with our little baby on it). But we live in a horrible horrible world where we have to second guess the good intentions of others.
I love my kids so much, but I hate bringing them into a world where good is initially perceived as bad, even though there is a lot of good in this world. I just wish we could minimize the bad a lot more than we are.
(And now I wonder how many moms rejected the gift from this nice 91 year old lady in the past and how she felt when they did.)