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January 29, 2017 – by Jody
Mike, the kids, and I were sitting in the Lyon, France airport playing games and watching people and seeing flight attendants come and go in various uniforms as we waited for our flight on Emirate Airlines to Dubai — the first of several flights (and many breakfasts) on our way to Melbourne, Australia.
I noticed a mother sitting close by with a sweet little baby boy (I’m guessing 7 or 8 months old) on her lap nestled in a baby carrier of some sort. While she didn’t have anyone with her, she seemed to be managing without a problem. A few moments later, when the baby woke, he was hungry. I could see that she was searching her bag for something. The more she searched, the more fussy the baby got. I remember that feeling as a new mom…trying to juggle a fussy baby while trying to do 10 other things. As she didn’t seem to be finding what she was looking for, and it seemed like she was having a harder time looking while still holding the baby, I thought maybe I could help. She spoke French, and I spoke English.
I decided to keep it simple, and just said, “J’aide vous?” (“I help you?”) She understood, smiled, and handed me the baby. He was all cuddly in his little blue fuzzy outfit and immediately found a comfy spot on my shoulder while I gently patted his back and back rocking slowing from one foot to the other. It was so sweet.
The mom continued to search her bag but wasn’t having any luck finding what she needed, so she walked over to the vending machines at the other end of the gate area. I could see her and then after a couple of minutes she walked out of view. (I guessed that the vending machine didn’t have what she needed for the formula, so she left to look for it elsewhere.)
I continued (as happy as could be) to stand and pat the baby’s back and rocked to and fro. After several minutes, Grace came over to see what was going on and started playing peek-a-boo with him. He grinned and made those sweet first laughing sounds babies make, not yet real laughs but such sweet happy noises. He was content as could be, too.
After about 20 minutes, we all began to wonder a little bit where the mom had gone, but we also felt sure that she was coming back, we knew the baby was happy, and we still had time before we needed to board the plane. When the mom returned, she sat down to mix the baby’s formula and then when she was settled, she took the baby back, and he happily ate his food and fell asleep on her lap.
We’ll never know who she was or where she was from or where she was going, but it was a moment in time I’ll always remember.
That is so sweet, and so like you 🙂 She was lucky that you happened to be there, I’m sure that’s a moment she will remember as well.
Such a precious story!!!! Jody you are awesome!!! Love the pictures of Grace and Leo playing together.
Love your story and love you all!!!!