Ava's Heart

This morning, at the last minute, I decided to meet the kids for lunch at school. They like this special treat because I bring happy meals and we sit at a special table. The rule at their school is that a student may choose one classmate to join them at the special table. That can be pretty tough, and I wonder how many hurt feelings there are sometimes as they choose between friends. Many times, I have just not even allowed them to bring a friend to nip that sort of problem in the bud. But today they seemed extra excited about inviting a friend to the table. So, I told them to think about which friend they would invite and Nate piped up that he wanted to ask A___, and I am not even sure who that is but I said fine. Ava turned and stated that she would like to invite T____. I was a bit surprised. The name she tossed out was not one of her close friends. I said that was a fine choice, but I wondered out loud why she planned to invite this girl instead of one of her closer friends. Ava replied that yesterday T____ had told her that she never gets picked to sit at the table with anyone when their mom comes for lunch. Ava went on to explain that she just wanted this girl to have a turn, too.

I gave Ava a hug and let her know how proud I was that she was so thoughtful and kind to the people in her class. Then I went to my room and cried a little with joy. The kindness of Ava's heart has caused my own to overflow with joy and thankfulness.