Merited and Unmerited Favor

Daniel met a certain potty training goal recently and was rewarded with his reward of choice...a train ride at the park nearby. So early the next morning Mom and I piled the kids in the car, and headed out to the park. When we got there, the ride section was closed, but we could see the train was pulling people anyway, so I went to go buy tickets. After all, the website said they were open. The ticket lady informed that the rides were closed unless you were part of a school. At this point I became the mother I never thought I would be.


Seeing Daniel bouncing at my feet, I had to spill the beans - the reason for our trip that day. "Can I make an appeal?" I asked, trying not to sound desperate. "We're here today JUST to ride the train. My little guy here just finished a certain potty training milestone, and this was what he worked for - a ride on your train." Seeing the gazillions of kids everywhere around us I continued "Can we just slip in with a group? I'm happy to pay!"


The poor girl looked hopeless, and replied that she was new there, and could not make any exceptions, as she wanted to "get in good" with her employer, but pointed out a man in the crowd. "That's my boss over there. If you want to make an appeal, go ask him." That was a fair answer. I can't ask her to overstep her authority, I thought, so I went the next step.


I went up to the man, just as I heard him tell the engineer to put the train away for the day. "Excuse me, sir" I said, "we're here today because my son right here just reached a very important potty training milestone, and the reward he's been working toward is a train ride on the train here. I checked the website this morning, and it said you were open right now."


The guy pointed to Daniel with a questioning look. I nodded back. He got down right at Daniel's eye level.


"I hear you're here for something special today, young man" he said. Obviously, this guy has children, I thought.


"YES!" Daniel shouted back "I did all my poopoos in the potty!!!" with all the unashamededness and enthusiasm of a 3 year old boy.


The man stood up and smiled. He motioned to the engineer to wait. "Well you certainly DID earn a trip on the train! Hop on board, we'll take you on your own personal ride!"


And so it was, that Daniel earned us all a free ride on the train that morning - at a time when the park was closed to the public (the website had not been updated) - by the park director.


Here are few photos to show for it.

This is Daniel running through the park before the train ride. This is pretty typical of his enthusiasm and energy level right now. This is Daniel on the trainThis is Hannah celebrating with Daniel

And this is 3 tired but happy children :-)