The button
So there we were, my beautiful young daughters and I, on the carousel in Orlando. The two of them were buckled in, and it was just a few seconds before the thing was about to start moving. I was standing between their horses -- fantasmagorical Seuss characters, actually -- and I had a moment to catch my breath and look around us a little.
In the row behind us was a nice little family, including a boy wearing a lapel button on his t-shirt. I looked down at the button -- simple dark letters on a white background. It said "Make a Wish."
And everything froze for a few seconds.
I took a quick second look back. A perfectly normal, healthy-looking, beautiful boy. With that button on.
A lot of thoughts flashed all at once. So they make the ill child wear a button on his big day? Why? To make sure everyone is extra nice to him? To advertise the program? How did the boy feel? Did he even know what it all meant?
I looked around one last time as we started rolling. I smiled and smiled, just as I would have if there had been no button. What a cool carousel, what a wonderful evening. There's no way to know why things are the way they are. But at that moment, we were all getting something we had wished for.
| Posted at 10:36 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (6)
maybe, (being the eternal optimist that I am)just maybe he was just wearing the button........maybe, just maybe it had nothing to do with that organization. I would hope parents wouldn't pin that on their sick child in order to get extra attention.
Posted by kathe w. | April 7, 2007 7:01 AM
Perhaps they were so grateful to "Make-a-Wish" that they wanted to spread the word?
Posted by frank | April 7, 2007 12:25 PM
Maybe they just wanted to celebrate the organization, and what it gave them. I know when I put on a button, which I very rarely do, it is in honor or something or someone, very important.
We're not big on bumper stickers in the Dufay family -- but on the back of my car is a bumper sticker that says -- "Ride like a girl" -- in pink, with a pink cowgirl on a horse.
That's for ForwardStride, the organization I volunteer with. The group that helps tiny children and much older folks, walk, who might never have.
It's amazing how much people want to honor and highlight the work of an organization that gives to people in such times.
You should be there.
As a volunteer.
Of course.
Posted by an | April 7, 2007 9:17 PM
just to be clear, "an" was me. I just wasn't paying attention to the sign-in stuff.
Sorry
Anne Dufay aka "an"
Posted by Anne Dufay | April 7, 2007 9:19 PM
There are a number of possibilities to explain the button. Heck, maybe he had just come from granting someone else a "wish" or some kind of family volunteer effort.
I don't think they make recipients wear a button (though perhaps someone want choose to?). I could be wrong. I had a cousin with cancer who was granted a "wish" but I never heard of it being made into any sort of spectacle.
Posted by ellie | April 8, 2007 12:25 PM
It wasn't a big spectacle -- just the button. And the boy was the only one in the family who had it on.
Posted by Jack Bog | April 8, 2007 2:43 PM