― John Holmes
So today, my son and I stopped at a convenience store on the way to his baseball practice. He wanted to pick up a Gatorade.
We pulled into a parking space and he immediately got out of the car and started to head toward the door.
And because I'm, well, me, it took me a few seconds longer.
Two people were sitting at a table outside the front door. They had bags next to them that appeared to hold all of their posessions.
It's no shocker to anyone that this is a frequent occurrence in Southern California.
As I closed the door to the car and hurried to join my son, the woman said something to him.
I couldn't hear her words.
But I saw my son.
Without hesitation, he pulled his wallet from his back pocket, opened it, extracted some bills, and handed them to the woman.
Summer jobs are hard to come by for teenagers in SoCal. My kid has been earning money by helping his friend's dad with landscaping. He's been getting up early, spending hours in the hot sun, digging trenches, picking rock, and planting flowers. It's hard, dirty, exhausting manual labor.
I heard her say, "God bless you."
I heard the man with her ask him a question about his baseball uniform. My son chatted briefly with the man about baseball and then said goodbye. I smiled at the couple, and he and I entered the store
I have never been more in awe of or inspired by the man this kid is turning out to be than I was in that moment.
Because in that moment I realized that if he never rinses out his cereal bowl or takes out the trash without being reminded, or always keeps his clothes jumbled up in a laundry basket on the floor in his bedroom, it won't matter.
He's got a well-exercised, healthy heart that will serve humanity for a long time.
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