Manners and Such

Growing up we were taught to say Please, Thank You, You Are Welcome, God Bless You and May I Be Excused. Dad would say grace before dinner (I have to admit sometimes at great speed). There was no answering back to my parents. No getting on the phone with friends during dinner. Attendance at Sunday Dinner was not optional....it was a command performance. Even on a hot summer day the boys had to wear a shirt at the dinner table even if we ate outside. Lounging around all day in our PJ's unless we were sick was a no-no. Sleeping late.....nope. My dad would come in our bedroom and open the shade to let the sunlight in. There was no misbehaving at the dinner table. We didn't enter our parents bedroom without knocking on the door (I understood this rule more as I got older....LOL). We had to do our assigned chores. I never really gave this a second thought. This is just the way it was in our house.

Today while I was in the pool at the gym there were several kids in the pool. Most not being attended to by their parents. One little boy jumped in the pool right in front of me and water shot up all over the place including on me. I went to the other end of the pool to stay out of the fray. All of a sudden I see the little boy walking around the side of the pool. He had on goggles and a nose clip and was about 7 or 8 years old. He stopped when he got next to me and starred. I stopped jogging and looked up at him. He said something I couldn't understand. I said "I am sorry I didn't hear you." He said, "I am sorry I splashed you." I told him not to worry about it and thanked him for coming to say that to me. I turned around and saw his Mom watching the conversation. I gave her the thumbs up. She smiled back. The poor kid.....I am sure it was Mom's idea and he looked so nervous coming over to me. What I wanted to do was laugh but I kept a serious face on. But to see this little boy in goggles and a nose clip apologizing was just precious and extremely funny.

His Mom made him do the right thing. I appreciated it. I know my parents would have made me do the same thing. It is those small lessons that stay with us for life. And that little boy should be very proud of himself.....heck I didn't even know his name but I was proud of him!!