This week, Austin’s friend and orchestral-partner, Acadia, was unable to attend school, because she had the flu. Unprompted on Thursday night, Austin asked if he could offer to bring her viola home from school for her, so that she could practice her instrument over the weekend; Christine or Keith would have to drive him to her house so that he could drop it off. Of course we agreed: he brought her instrument and sheet music home with him the next afternoon and he dropped it off to her Friday night.
Yesterday, Victoria attended a birthday celebration with her friend and neighbor, Mary. They celebrated at Billy Beez at the mall, but it was an informal celebration – they hadn’t formally rented space at the facility, so Victoria and Keith decided to leave Mary’s present in the car (rather than bring it into the lobby and leave it there unattended). When the girls were finished playing and departed for home, there wasn’t an opportunity for Victoria to give Mary her gift, because our vehicles were not parked near one another. After she returned home, Victoria sat at the front window of the house dutifully watching and waiting for Mary’s car to drive past – from 645 until 725 – so that she could run up the street to give Mary her gift. We told her that she could wait, but she wanted to be certain that she gave Mary her present, because she thought it would make Mary happy.
They do things for friends, because they want to … because they empathize with others. They want others to be happy … and they make us proud.
