Saving Each Other with Kindness

"It's only in fairy tales that princesses can afford to wait for the handsome prince to save them.  In real life, they have to bust out of their own coffins and do the saving themselves."
― Meg Cabot

A woman I know works mightily to balance the demands of a professional career and being a mother.  She usually manages to get most of the important things done ― with a fair amount of juggling.  But the other day, a last-minute professional commitment threw her into a tailspin, and she struggled to figure out how to meet competing demands.  She called one of her mom friends to see if she could help with an after-school activity pick-up.  The other mother told her not to worry and volunteered to do more than was asked, including an additional pick-up.  The extra duty required a detour, time in another school pick-up line, and confrontations with a police officer and school security guard, but undeterred, the mom friend plugged ahead and completed her mission.

The woman I know was incredibly grateful for the other mother's kindness.  It wasn't just the kindness of the help, but the graciousness and generosity with which the kindness was extended.  She thanked her mom friend for "saving" her.  The other mother shrugged off the importance of what she had done and replied, "Do you know how many times you have saved me?!"

A little later, the woman I know met another mom friend for dinner.  As soon as she sat down, the other mother said, "You don't know how you saved me..." And went on to thank her for something she had done.

It seems we survive by constantly saving each other.