Portuguese

Tonight I wished I could speak Portuguese. 

Not because I'm making plans to travel to Brazil - at least not anytime soon - but rather because this evening as I was picking up some groceries (i.e. Peanut M&Ms, Bite Size Snickers, & Hersey's Hugs, etc.) from the K-mart on 34th Street, I stumbled across a little boy (age 3 or 4) who was in tears. 

He sat on the edge of a bottom store shelf, and a girl, who appeared to be his sister (age 5 or 6), attempted to console him in a language that I identified as not English, German, or Pig Latin. 

I suspected they had somehow lost their mother, but when I inquired about the whereabouts of their parents the little girl responded by saying, "We don't speak English."

So I tried Spanish.  And that didn't work either.  The girl responded by saying, "Portuguese."

So I tried one last time to inquire in English, "Do you know where your mom is?"

"Ma."  The little girl replied, and both she and her brother shook their heads yes.  And so I trusted that "Ma" was in the nearby vicinity and had place her son and daughter in "time out" as she was picking up a few other items a couple of aisles away.

I walked away with hesitancy, and now reflecting back, I wish I would have stayed with the two until Mom returned, because New York is not a city (no city is), that you should leave your kids unattended.

-----------------------------------

Tonight my church celebrated its first Sunday evening service with kids programming.  We had a total of four kids present, but as we continue to grow as a local parish, we are hopeful that the number of kids in our church body will also grow.  I'd volunteer to contribute, but I haven't quite yet found the right sperm donor.

-----------------------------------